Pokemon: The Rocket Uprising
by Creative Writer 2000
Summary: Ash's time has been brought to an end, thanks to Team Rocket, and now they've begun their ultimate scheme. But will Ash's friends let them get away with this? No chance. They'll fight on in honour of their dearly departed ally. But who is this masked figure who operates among them in the shadows? Now officially M rated for character deaths of the gruesome variety
1. The Tragic Start

**Hello everyone. Salvador Rider present. It's been ages since I last uploaded any content onto this site, which I apologise for, wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, now being a university student, I have to make the choice of what's more important; fanfictions or university degrees. And, I'm sorry to report, university wins. Some people may be wondering about The Revenge of Ashton Ketchum-Oak. I do plan to carry it on, but I'm currently in a dip. I've lost my inspiration for it. So I'm going to pose a question to you, my readers. Would you like to help me write it?We could make it a community fiction. At least until I get back into my groove, as it were, to write for myself again. As for now, here is an adopted fiction, (originally titled "Pokemon: Revolution"), kindly allowed to me by Pokedrago. I hope you enjoy this fiction, I thought it held great potential. The only major differences I've made to this story is I've fleshed it out, and made it take a little more time in its story telling, it was a tad rushed in its original form. It's taken a year to hear anything from Pokedrago about adopting this fic, and I hope to make it worthwhile. Please do enjoy the story.**

* * *

Giovanni Mortegio, leader of the notorious crime Kanto based syndicate Team Rocket, sat at his desk, distraught at the events that had happened just two weeks ago. The battle in the Unova region, the final stand he had at finally conquering the governing powers of the regions and claiming the world as his own, was a failure. And all because of one brat, who had been a thorn in his side for years, and his electric rat.

* * *

The air stood cold as the army of Rockets stood silently outside the giant sandstone palace that now dominated the sky scape mere inches behind the Unova League Headquarters. At the head stood Giovanni, sneering maliciously as he inspected the structure before him and his people.

"So Team Plasma believes that a castle is enough to strike fear into the hearts of the peoples of the world?" He spat sceptically. "Building fortitudes like this shows weakness. Building armies shows strength." *He smirked as he glanced over his shoulder to see an ocean of hateful, scorning faces as his millions of underlings readied themselves for war. He turned back to the castle, with scorn burning in his eyes. His agents and spies were out in the field, secretly building him an army of the most powerful Pokémon imaginable, while this revived group of former hippies were wasting time over building castles to achieve world domination. The thought of this cowardice sickened him. With Aqua, Magma and Galactic disbanded and dishonoured, he was sure that the fall of Team Plasma would leave Team Rocket left to control the planet. But when they returned with more malicious intentions, the future for Giovanni's plans looked doomed, lest he retaliated. And soon.

He turned to his men and raised his arm for attention. All eyes fell upon him, all ears eager to hear him speak of courage and upcoming victory. "This is the final frontier for Rockets everywhere!" He announced, to much applause. "This is the day of reckoning!" He added, earning roars of approval. "This is the day that Team Plasma falls. And Team Rocket… RISES!"

"TEAM ROCKET **RISES**!" Came a thunderous echo as the Rocket army cheered and roared, chomping at the bit for blood and violent warfare.

"We'll show these idiots who is the REAL destined ruler of the planet." Giovanni smirked in cocky confidence. "Let there be no survivors!" He ordered. With uproarious battle cries, Team Rocket advanced on the castle.

From inside the castle walls, looking down at the approaching army below from the throne room in the highest room of the castle, stood Ghetsis, looking rather worse for wear over the years he had struggled and suffered. Much of his body had been replaced with mechanical components, and half of his face melted into a robotic cranium with a glowing red eye. His left arm required support from a large metal cane that looked like a giant torture tool that even the great Arceus would cower away from.

"Hmm. How tedious." He smirked as he watched the swarm of black suited Rockets advance on his stronghold. "It think we'd better call out the exterminator for these vermin." He chuckled in dark humour, raising his staff into the air and slamming it down on the tiles, sending a dark purple pulse of energy resonating from the cane.

The ground began to shake violently between the advancing Rockets, halting them in their tracks as they wobbled around, trying not to be tripped by the sudden seismic shudder.

"What the-?" A great and terrifying roar cut through Giovanni's words like a chainsaw as a large disfigured looking dragon crawled over the castle, roaring furiously as it stood over the trembling Rockets. Giovanni sneered with pure loathing as he gazed at the beast. "Kyurem." He snarled. The empty eyed dragon reared its head with an ear splitting shriek, causing the Rockets to fall to their knees as they clutched their ringing earlobes in unspeakable sonic agony. Giovanni however, tough as he was, struggled against the noise, barely managing to stay stable on his legs. "How can they even attempt another scheme with Kyurem?" He questioned, puzzled at why Team Plasma would try controlling the same Pokémon again. The icy beast screamed as its body transformed, mutating into his Black form, baring its fangs as its Zekrom arm clenched its claws into a fist. Black Kyurem leapt from the castle, diving down at the Rockets, who scattered, screaming and wailing with fear as the beast drew ever closer.

"SACRED SWORD ATTACK!" Came a mysterious voice from nowhere, and a majestic light struck the beast in the chest.

* * *

He slammed his fist on the wooden desktop with rage as the memory of that humiliating double whitewash played in his head. The day that annoying little runt destroyed everything. Not only did he destroy Team Plasma and everything they built, but he even decided to lay into him too. All his hard work was destroyed with a few minutes. Giovanni cupped his head in his hands, massaging his temples frustratedly. His last chance to achieve his ultimate goal was destroyed. Or so he thought.

A knock at his office door broke the man out of his seething. He straightened himself out in his chair, recomposing himself before addressing the door. "Enter." He ordered. A young man in his late twenties entered the room, wearing a white lab coat and a pair of slim reading glasses.

"Giovanni, sir. I apologise for interrupting. But I believe we may have found a solution." Giovanni's ear perked up as he heard this news.

"Do you?" He asked hopefully.

"Yes sir." The scientist replied, placing a file down on this boss' desk and seating himself down, opening the binder. "Looking through ancient writings and scriptures on the legendary Pokémon, we've found one reoccurring theme to each legend." He explained as he pulled out pictures of ancient drawings and writings depicting legendary Pokémon.

"And what is this 'reoccurring theme'?" Giovanni quizzed, curiously.

"Each legend speaks of a human." The young scientist said, pointing out a human figure in each of the drawings. "Called 'The Chosen One'." Giovanni's face contorted into a hideous smirk upon hearing those words. "The stories say that each legendary Pokémon willingly entrusts their fate to the hands of The Chosen One. And the Chosen One is said to be able to summon every legendary Pokémon at will in times of great peril." The young man finished, making Giovanni sneer more and more evilly. "But, so far, none of our findings give us any indication of the identity of this Chosen One, or where they may be found."

"Oh, but you needn't worry yourself about that, young Hawthorn." The Rocket boss smirked, looking up from the papers and into the professor's curious eyes. "I already know who we're looking for."

* * *

Just outside the entrance to Mount Moon, Ash Ketchum and his trusty electric Pokémon Pikachu were just finishing a videophone conversation with Misty in Cerulean City.

"Are you sure it can't be discussed now, Mist?" Ash asked, curiously. "You know I'm not fond of being kept in suspense. And it's difficult to get around in public these days, you know."

"Yes, Ash." Misty replied, bluntly. "I need to say this to your face." She folded her arms. "I want to make sure you're not too busy with this 'Pokémon Master stuff' you're always so caught up in." Ash huffed, but waved his hand dismissively. "Alright, alright. You win, Misty." He conceded. "I'll be there in half an hour or so."

"You'd better." Misty told him before hanging up the call. Ash stood up from his chair and stretched out his back, popping his vertebrae with a moan. The young man stretched for a moment, getting the blood to get flooding through more of his body than his legs before moving. He swept his dark raven locks away from his auburn eyes and sighed.

"That girl, eh, Pikachu?" He joked with a giggle.

"Ash. That's your best friend you're talking about." Pikachu chastised him. Being Ash's longest standing companion through his journeys, Pikachu grew accustomed to Ash and his jokes, but found it tiresome to have to shock him whenever he wanted to keep him in check, that sort of childish prank wasn't funny anymore. Unless he was waking him up in the morning. So Pikachu took the liberty of learning, in private, how to speak in human language.

"I know, Pi." Ash chuckled, petting his friend on the head. "But I just can't wait to hear what she has to say, you know?" He reasoned. "It's been a while since we last spoke since my victory." Ash was now twenty years old, and was the official Pokémon World Master. A tournament was held the previous year, in which challengers had to defeat the world's most elite Pokémon trainers in an all-out knockout tourney of over a hundred trainers. It was a tough match and, in the end, Ash was pitted against the one trainer he dreaded most in the entire tournament; Tobias. Battling Tobias again after all his years of travelling the world proved to be no less challenging than Ash remembered it. But in the end, Ash – miraculously – managed to claw a win from the fight and was crowned the master of Pokémon across the world. He was no longer the scrawny runt people remembered him as. Now, he was a tall young man with long sweeping black locks. Over his years of climbing sheer faced cliffs and running from perils unimaginable, Ash's body had worked up an impressive physique, sporting very fine toned torso. The young master sighed before patting his shoulder. "Come on, buddy. It's time we got cracking and go meet Misty at the gym." Pikachu hopped up onto his friend's shoulder and they left the Pokémon Centre.

Just as they were approaching the Mount Moon entrance, however, they heard the roaring of motorcycles approaching them. As Ash turned round, they found themselves surrounded by motorcyclists, aiming hand pistols at them. Though confused, Ash calmly half-raised his arms in surrender, glancing round at the siege layers. "OK. I know I've made my fair share of enemies." He told them. "Which ones are you?" From behind him he heard a familiar cackle.

"Take a guess, Ketchum." Ash gritted his teeth and his calm demeanour deserted him as he heard that voice. He turned to find himself face to face with the man who made him the angriest in the world.

"Giovanni." He seethed. Giovanni smirked at him. "What are you losers doing here? I thought I shut you down back in Unova."

"Team Rocket doesn't give up that easily, Ketchum." Giovanni gloated, smugly. "But don't worry yourself. I have plans for you."

"Now that's what makes me worried." Ash snarled. "What sort of 'plans'?"

"Now if I told you that, you'd try to stop us." Ash reached for a pokéball. "I wouldn't do that, if I were you." Giovanni threatened as Ash felt one of the bikers grab Pikachu off his shoulder. He spun round to see the goon holding a gun to Pikachu's head. The little yellow mouse attempted to zap the thug, but his leather clothing insulated the attack.

"Don't you DARE!" Ash shouted earning himself having all the other biker Rockets aim their sights at him. He stared them down, growling venomously. He huffed, knowing he was in a catch twenty two, and there was nothing to get him out of it. "OK, fine. What do you want from me?" Giovanni smirked as Ash accepted defeat and snapped his fingers. Two of the grunts surrounding the young master walked up to him. Each held him tightly by each arm and socked him in the stomach with a single punch, doubling him over. While he was winded, they bound his arms and legs, gagged his mouth with duct tape and covered his head with a bag.

"Take him and the rat to headquarters!" Their leader commanded. "We have work to do." And the last thing Ash knew was a sharp blow to the back of his head before blacking out.

* * *

Ash slowly came round, regaining some sort of awareness through the bleary haze that clouded his vision, only to find himself strapped to an iron table. Above him loomed a device, which bared some resemblance to a laser. "So you're awake, it seems." Giovanni commented in his always sarcastic tone. Ash gritted his teeth in anger and loathing as the man loomed over his to his side, smirking victoriously.

"Where am I?" Ash demanded. "And where's Pikachu and the rest of my Pokémon?"

"Your rat is being tested to see if it may be a useful resource to our cause." Giovanni sneered. "And the rest are all safely tucked away in their pokéballs." He added, pointing to a containment dish at Ash's feet. "As for where you are, this is our latest base of operations, built specifically with you in mind, dear boy." He introduced his captive to the space with pride.

"Why me?" Ash asked. "First all you people cared about was stealing my Pokémon. Now you're targeting me? What for?"

"Why, it's elementary, Ketchum." Giovanni stated, as if Ash was an idiot for being so ignorant. "Is it not true that, in your short time as a travelling Pokémon trainer, you have encountered each and every legendary Pokémon there is in this world?" Ash simply answered with a nod. "My researchers have evidence to conclude that this is because you are "The Chosen One". The one and only human these Pokémon entrust their destinies with."

"Oh, come on!" Ash huffed, defiantly. "I've heard enough of those legends to know that they're just stories of coincidence and chance encounters. Any fool could meet the legendary Pokémon if they just travel long enough."

"Well that's where you're wrong, Ketchum." Giovanni responded, abruptly. "Because there is one Pokémon that only you have seen… Ho-oh." Ash's eyes widened in shock.

"How do you know I've seen it?"

"You're the most talked about pest in the entire syndicate, Ketchum. If any one of my Rockets hears something about you, the news spreads fast. Legend has it that only the 'Chosen One' can ever see the legendary Ho-oh. But not only that, the 'Chosen One' also has the power to summon all of the Legendary Pokémon from around the world. You're here so that we can extract that power from you. And once the extraction is complete, we can finally dispose of you once and for all." Giovanni smirked triumphantly, giving Ash such a cold look his blood ran ice cold.

"Why would you do that?" He demanded. "You'll have everything you need, so why kill me?"

"Two reasons. First; we won't be able to fully extract your power, you'll still be able to control the legendary Pokémon. And second; you have been a thorn in Team Rocket's side for years. We can't risk keeping you alive so that you can try and ruin all our hard work, like you always do." Giovanni hissed at him. "Although…" He grinned, mockingly. "Even though you've ruined our schemes, you haven't ruined our operations." He told the young man, leaning on the table. "We have units stationed in strategically hidden bases in Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh. And after your meddling in Unova, we left a few operatives behind."

A grunt walked into the room.

"Giovanni, sir, the Pikachu shows great promise to be a staple powerhouse to Team Rocket's Pokémon army. However, it's stubborn and violent to any trainer who isn't Ketchum."

"Excellent." Giovanni exclaimed. "We'll be sure to break its spirits. Have it transferred to headquarters."

"Yes sir." The grunt left, and Giovanni turned back to ash with an evil smirk.

"Time to get started. I'd suggest you get ready for the worst kind of pain you'll ever experience." And with that, Giovanni retreated to a safe distance behind nuclear power station grade glass. The room he left behind soon filled with an ominous humming sound. As Ash looked around the room for a possible means of escape, he saw the laser glowing an eerie and menacing green colour.

"Let's get started, and believe me you have never experienced the pain you are about to."

Giovanni left and Ash heard the scanner gather its power, readying its scan. Then the next thing the young trainer knew, the scanner shot a nuclear green beam of light into his chest, sending an unbearable pain through his entire muscular and nervous system. From within their monitoring room, Giovanni and his leading scientists watched as the laser device purged Ash's spirit, scanning and extracting as much power as it could take.

"Sir, it's incredible. Such powerful aura. A stronger being may never exist, past or future." Said one of the younger scientists as Ash lay helpless on the iron table, screaming and thrashing around in agony unimaginable as the green beam tore into his very soul, and stole his inner essence. Giovanni watched on with an evil grin, enjoying the chance to finally watch the greatest threat to Team Rocket finally know pain that nothing on this Earth could ever teach him. He chuckled to himself sadistically as the Pokémon Master's body twitched and twinged painfully, his breath now raggedy and accompanied by violent convulses as he tried his best to resist the pain of the extraction, only to worsen his agony.

"Fascinating." Said a redheaded girl with thin wire glasses. "The Chosen One's aura is incredible rich. No matter how much potential soul energy the scan extracts, it never seems to deplete."

"Hmm…" The Rocket boss mused. "The aura must be strong in him."

"We're nearing completion of the scan, sir." A grey haired scientist reported, watching a fairly large capsule fill with some form of golden light energy. The energy sparked and fizzed wildly, as if trying to escape, like it could sense it was being ensnared against its will for purposes it knew it wouldn't appreciate.

"Good." Giovanni nodded, turning once more to the still screaming Ash. "Then tell the troops to ready themselves for departure. And don't forget to board the rodent with us. It may be of some value… perhaps monetary, if not submissive." He smirked, as the energy capsule beeped, a locking device sealing it shut. Now the golden light was ensnared in the large pill shaped container, doomed to imprisonment.

* * *

In the operating room, Ash lay limp on the iron table, shining with sweat and shuddering with hideously painful muscle spasms. Having his inner aura siphoned had taken a heavy toll on his physical strength as well. The sound of the doors between his torture room and Giovanni's safe house drew his eyes to meet those of a smirking Giovanni. "Thank you for your patience, Master Ketchum." He leered, making Ash grimace bitterly.

"You realise I'm going to kill you once I get out of here." He bit grimly.

"I'm afraid, young Ketchum, that you won't be going anywhere." The suited man returned in a matter-of-factly manner. "You see, seeing as we now have all the potential soul energy we need from you, you're now no longer viable to our cause. And to keep you alive is a death sentence to the syndicate. So… as this base was a one off for this simple task, we no longer require its faculties." He told his young enemy, turning away and making his quiet entrance. "I'll send your goodbyes to the rat, shall I?" He cackled as the doors out to the Rocket copters closed behind him, sealing Ash in the now evacuated building.

"You bastard! You'll never walk away from this alive! Do you hear me? You will die for this, Giovanni Mortegio!" He wailed, thrashing around in his iron restraints in a futile attempt to escape.

Outside, as his fleet of choppers took to skies, readying their departure, Giovanni turned to his leading admin, placing a Faraday cage containing a familiar Pikachu on the craft's dashboard, making the poor creature watch in terror.

"Initiate the countdown." He commanded.

"Yes, Sir Giovanni." The admin obeyed, pressing a button on a remote detonator. "Thirty seconds to self-destruct, Sir." The Rocket leader smirked as he petted his ever loyal Persian who sneered just as darkly as his owner as they watched the base, awaiting its eminent destruction. Inside the base, Ash thrashed around on the same table, still no closer to freedom as he struggled as hard as he could against his restraints. As the counter approached zero, Giovanni sneered with cocksure victory.

"Goodbye, Ketchum." And BOOM! The entire base tore itself apart from the inside out in a raging fireball. Heaps of concrete and slate and corrugated metal ripped and shattered and cracked under the heat and pressure of the explosion.

"PIKAPI!" Pikachu cried out in terror, before slumping down in his cage, weeping like a baby Pichu who'd watched his mother get carried off by a Growlithe. Giovanni, heartless as ever, just roared with sinister pleasure.

Now that we have eliminated our old friend Ketchum, there is nothing to stand in our way." He sneered as the choppers flew away into the blood red sunset, as the skies bled for the destruction of the man who lay beneath the rubble.

* * *

**And thus is the opening to my revision of Pokemon: Revolution. Like I said earlier, I'm sorry I haven't uploaded for so long, and please let me know if any of you are interested in helping me regain my mojo for The Revenge of Ashton Ketchum-Oak. I hope you all enjoy the story.  
**

**Salvador Rider  
**


	2. Ash, the Master, is Dead

**Hello everyone. Salvador here. It seems that the first chapter of my remake of this story has gone down well. Killing Ash off in a fanfic hardly ever goes down well, but you seem to have accepted Ash's death rather well. This is the last chapter of the original story, and from here on, all future updates will be original material. In the mean time, I hope you enjoy the second chapter.**

* * *

Misty paced up and down in the lobby to the gym. It'd been a week since she and Ash had spoken and she hadn't heard a peep out of her childhood friend for days now, which was always a cause for concern. "Where is he?" She wondered to herself, pulling at her ginger locks. Like Ash, Misty had undergone a metamorphosis of her own over the years. All the years of swimming and training water type Pokémon had toned her body to sport some very impressive muscles. But she wasn't what people would call 'hench', because she still had a feminine softness to her complexion. Her fiery red hair was now allowed to grow long, and she proudly wore it down so it could flow in the open air as it draped down her back. "It's been two weeks since he left Pallet. How could it take him a week to navigate through Mount Moon? Not even Ash can get that lost." Her thoughts were broken by the sound of the phone ringing. She rushed to the phone, praying she'd see Ash on the other end. As the video call screen blinked on, however, her hope vanished and her heart sunk as she saw a rather nervous looking middle aged woman on the screen.

"Hello Misty." Mrs Ketchum greeted, trying to maintain a welcoming smile in spite of her worry. "Please tell me Ash is present with you. He was supposed to give me a call once he arrived." The glum look of disappointment that accompanied the redhead's slow head shake didn't fill the aging woman with much hope.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Ketchum." She reported grimly. "But Ash never arrived."

"I'm starting to worry about him, Misty. I know he's a Pokémon Master and all, but he's always made sure to call home as soon as he reaches towns and cities. I hope he's alright."

"Me too, Mrs K." Misty concurred, feeling a slight pang of doom hanging over her. "I'll call Brock and see if he's seen Ash lately."

"Oh thank you, Misty. That takes a weight off my shoulders." Delia thanked the young lady gratefully.

"Think nothing of it, Mrs K." Misty smiled to the woman, in spite of her bad feeling. "I'll call you again soon. Bye-bye." She hung up the call and dialled Brock's home address. As she waited for a reply, Misty's mind whirred in thought, wondering what could've happened to Ash.

After a few seconds of pondering as the phone buzzed, a familiar voice answered as the screen blinked on, showing a friendly face.

"Hello?" The young Pokémon Doctor greeted, smiling broadly as he saw Misty's face. "Ah, Mist. What a pleasant surprise. And to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Hello Brock." Misty replied, not even attempting a false smile. "I'm afraid this isn't a routine call."

"I assume Ash has arrived, or just leaving?" The older man said, not picking up on the grim tone in his old friend's voice. His face quickly stilled as he watched the redhead shake her head with the utmost seriousness.

"He never showed up, Brock." She told him grimly. "Has he passed by you at any time?"

"He was here a week ago." Brock told her. "He said he was on his way to see you and that he'd call you before going through Mount Moon. I'd have thought he'd be there by now. Did he get lost in Mount Moon on the way?"

"Ash doesn't strike me as the kind to get lost like that anymore, Brock." Misty returned, speaking slowly and thoughtfully. "He's grown up so fast over the years, I mean. He's no longer the stupid little kid we're all used to now. And, if he were lost, he'd find a way to contact us for help, or at least have the common sense to use the Pokégear his mother gave him before he become the Pokémon Master. But he's not answering his calls, and hasn't been for a week. I thought it was just him being out of range, travelling through Mount Moon and all, but now I'm getting worried. I think we should try looking for him." There was a moment of stillness between the two until Brock broke it.

"Are you really that desperate to tell him whatever you had to say?" Misty made no attempt to disguise her surprised gasp.

"How did you know I have something to tell him?"

"I thought it was a little odd that he'd drop by out of the blue like that. Then he told me you said you had something to tell him and that you'd prefer to say it in person." The silence from his friend gave him a good idea of what her news was. "Mist, you need to be patient. You know Ash. He'll turn up eventually, I'm sure of it."

"Well I can't be bothered to wait any longer." Misty snapped. "Meet me at the crossroads where we broke up before Ash first left for Hoenn. And that isn't s request, Brock. If I'm left waiting for you, there'll be severe consequences." She growled. Brock only sighed in response. He knew all too well it wasn't a good idea to get on Misty's bad side.

"Alright, Mist." He conceded. "I'll be on my way as soon as I'm set. See you presently."

"See ya soon, Brock." Misty replied, before hanging up.

After a second of emptiness that felt like an unexplained sense of dread, she collected her coat and wandered into the pool room where Daisy was, training with her Dewgong. "Daisy, I'm going out for a short while. Watch over the gym for me, will ya?" She requested as she made her way to the pokéball rack where the Cerulean Sisters stored their Pokémon when they weren't in battle.

"Sure thing, Mist." Daisy beamed back happily. Over the years, she and her youngest sister had grown rather fond of each other of late. Daisy had initially returned home out of pure laziness, not wanting to partake in a tour she, Lily and Violet were scheduled for. But the more she stayed with Misty, the more inclined she felt to spend more and more time with the unnoticed Cerulean Sister. "But, like, where are ya going?" She asked curiously. Misty was prone to just walking out from time to time, but mostly because of meetings with the Gym Leader's Association, or social gatherings with some friends. As far as Daisy was aware, Misty wasn't planning anything like this for a while.

"I'm looking for someone." Misty replied vaguely as she made her way to her pokéball rack.

"Who?"

"Ash. He still hasn't shown up since I spoke to him last. Brock and I are gonna go search for him. If he rolls up before I'm back, drop me a call on my Pokégear, OK?"

"Will do, Mist. I don't know why you're getting so uptight about this. I mean, like, I totally get that Ash is your secret crush and you've totally been trying to hit on him for, what, ten years? But I know that Ash would never not come back, sis. So he's a few days late. He always was a bit of a scatterbrain, from what I remember."

"That used to be true." Misty muttered as she collected her pokéballs. Counting the capsules on her belt; Gyarados, Starmie, Corsola, Politoed, Seadra, she made her way for the door until…

"Azumarill!" She turned to find her young Azumarill, whom she'd raised from an egg, running up to her, not wanting her mummy to forget her.

"Not today, Azumarill." Misty turned her down, petting her gently.

"Zu." The aqua rabbit whimpered, ears drooping.

"Now, now." Misty said, softly lifting the Pokémon's eyes to meet hers. "I won't be gone long. And when I come back, I'll have a certain someone who'll want to play with you." She smiled.

"Azu!" The Pokémon chirped happily, knowing her mummy was talking about Ash's Pikachu. With a loving pet between the ears, Misty turned to the doors and departed, heading out to the crossroads where she and the boys first said adieu.

It was turning night time as Misty came the crossroads. As she approached, she found Brock was camped up on the side of the roads near the bordering woods. She made her way to his tent, setting down a rolled up sleeping bag she took with her before sitting beside her friend.

"So where do you propose we start the hunt?" Brock asked as he maintained watch over dinner. Misty turned her head to the pink smudge that slowly engulfed the evening air as she considered the best course of action.

"I'm thinking we start on route three, just on the outskirts of Pewter. From there we can trawl the area from there through Mount Moon and on to Cerulean. If Ash _has_ managed to get himself lost, we shouldn't have much trouble assuming he's lost somewhere in that area." She said.

"I still say you're underestimating him, Mist." Brock said as he started to dish up two bowls of stew. "He's always known for being fashionably late. Which, according to Ash Ketchum, is being late by a couple of weeks." He chuckled.

"There's fashionably late, and then there's stupidly late. Even by Ash's standards." Misty snapped back. She looked down into her bowl of stew with a troubled expression. "And then… there's worryingly late." She muttered.

At the crack of dawn, Misty and Brock were packing up their camp and setting out for Pewter City. As they walked along the dusty dirt trail, Brock just couldn't shake the feeling that Misty was feeling on edge for more than the fact that Ash had gone missing without so much as a phone call.

"Misty…" He addressed the rather distraught looking redhead carefully. "What did you want to say to Ash before he disappeared like this?" He was blanked for a few silent seconds before the water trainer shrugged.

"It's not important right now, Brock." She replied, her tone sounding quite monotonous. "What's important is finding Ash.

"Misty." Brock pressed, not wanting to be shut out by his dear friend. "You know that of all the people in the world, you can trust me with delicate matters like this. I never tell secrets and if this something you want to tell Ash is so dark and secretive, then Ash will, of course, be the last person I'd think to tell. Not that anyone else would hear it from me in the first place. Misty sighed, knowing that the tanned Pokémon doctor was right. She'd never told Brock about her deepest and darkest secret, but he always held her other secrets close to his chest when she needed someone to tell, without it becoming public news. She took a deep breath and mustered her courage, psyching her soul for the inevitable "I knew it" or "At last" that Brock was sure to yell to the high Heavens. There was a rather long, pregnant pause between the two before words were eventually heard from one of them.

"Misty. You can always trust-"

"I know, Brock." Misty huffed, halting her movement on the spot. She sighed and turned to face her search party partner. "Ever since we first met when we were just kids…" She started, slowly, her nerves shaking viciously at having to impart her most damning secret. "I always… sort of… admired Ash." She turned away from Brock's face, a small red blush slowly crawling across her nose. "You may ever say I've always… loved him." She all but whispered, semi hoping that Brock was too deaf to hear her final confession. The look on his face, however, showed that he heard everything. He was beaming from ear to ear. But instead of shouting "Eureka!" to the skies, or anything else Misty feared, all he did was nod.

"I know you did, Mist." He chuckled. The fact that he was so frank about that statement made Misty question whether to breathe out, after somehow holding her breath for what seemed like forever, or smack him with her mallet. "And I hope we find him for you." Her friend continued. "Hopefully, he shares your affections." He smiled at her, kindly. Misty smiled back and they turned back down the road towards Pewter City.

After a couple more hours of walking, they came to the Pewter City entrance to Diglett Cave, meaning they were just two hours from the outskirts of town. But, as the Sun was now halfway under the horizon, the two decided to set up camp to be ready for an early search in the morning. After dinner, Brock decided to turn in immediately, turning out like a light the second his head reached his pillow. Misty, however, was in no state for sleep. She lay in her sleeping bag, looking up at the star laced skies, worrying about Ash. While it was true that Ash always had a track record for getting lost, or being late, he always let somebody know where he was. So for him to disappear without a trace like this was completely unheard of, if not the most concerning thing in the world for her. She pulled her backpack close to her and unzipped the front pocket to retrieve a small purse. She untied the strings that held the casing closed and pulled out a diamond shaped badge. She remembered how Ash had given her this badge many years ago before the three of them set out for the Johto region. There was a mysterious gym leader who was offering this one a kind badge, and Ash was determined to win it. She couldn't help but smile as she remembered also that Ash had promised to take her to see a movie for her birthday, but never did. Usually, remembering Ash constantly putting off a promise like that would make her fume with rage. But the fact that Ash gave her this rare, one of a kind badge as a belated birthday present was the nicest thing Ash had ever done for her. She held the shiny metal badge up to the moonlight, watching the light dazzle and dance across its smooth surface. All her thoughts, however, took their toll. Her nostalgia and worry kept her up all night. For hours she was wondering if Ash was alright, if he may still be lost, or just entering Cerulean, whether she was going to hug him of hurt him for being so late, and most of all, how he would react to her confessing her as of yet unrequited love.

As morning rose, Misty had been thinking all night, so she was understandably tired. Brock prepared some hot cocoa for them as a morning pick-me-up.

"Couldn't sleep, huh?" He whispered to his friend as she sipped her mug of cocoa delicately.

"I couldn't stop thinking about Ash." She croaked, her throat feeling a little rough from lack of sleep and nervous tension. Brock nodded understandingly.

"We'll find him, Mist." He said, placing a reassuring hand on her knee. "I know we will." Misty smiled at him, feeling somewhat comforted by her friend's kind words. Once they were finished with their cocoa, Misty was wide awake and eager to press on. They packed their equipment and entered the Pewter City border. As the grey city peaked over the horizon, the two friends looked over it from the cliff where Brock's father sold his souvenir rocks. Misty pulled out her Pokégear and opened the map app.

"OK, according to my Pokégear, the only way from Pewter City to Cerulean is to through Mount Moon." She said, checking the map for any possible ways to avoid the Mount Moon tunnel. "It's the only safe way, as the mountains beyond Mount Moon are too perilous to climb."

"Lucky for us Route Three isn't too long, then." Brock said, looking out towards the only road out of town. "If we can find any trace of Ash between here and Mount Moon, we should have him in Cerulean City by lunch time."

The road of Route 3 was chorused with the sounds of "Ash?", "Ash?", "Ash!?", "Ash!" with the same response every time; silence. As Brock and Misty approached Mount Moon, nearing very close to the Pokémon Centre Ash had called Misty from before he disappeared, Misty stopped dead in her tracks as she spied something just outside the Pokémon Centre. She ran up to the site to find the skid marks of motorcycle tyres.

"What happened here?" She asked as Brock came to her side.

"Looks like a gang of bikers were here." He said, looking at the mess of rubber marks. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a Pokégear in a bush that was growing beside the Pokémon Centre. He walked up to the bush and pulled the device out. The sight of it made him gasp. The Pokégear was Ash's.

"Please tell me that's not what I think it is." Misty pleaded as she came to his side.

"I wish I could, Mist." Brock said, looking solemnly at the device. "I think someone kidnapped Ash." Misty pulled out her Pokégear and called Ash's number. After a couple of seconds, her call connected, and the Pokégear in Brock hand began to ring and on the screen flashed the name "MISTY", confirming their fears that it was Ash's Pokégear. Misty could feel an uneasy feeling of sickness rising in her throat. She forced herself to swallow it down and hung up the call. "But why would anyone do such a thing?" She asked.

"Well, there could be many people who would want to kidnap the Pokémon Master." Brock told her. The two were interrupted moments after, however, by the sound of car engines. "That's odd." Brock said. "There are no roads or highways within miles of here. Let's go check it out." He said as he and Misty followed the noise.

They ran towards the source of the noise, running through a forest and out to another stretch of road. As they reached the road, they found a convoy of black trucks and cars all bearing a very familiar and unwelcome insignia.

"It's a Team Rocket convoy." Brock hissed and the two of them ducked behind some thick bushes net to the road.

"But how? I thought Ash finished Team Rocket in Unova." Misty whispered.

"Me too." Brock agreed.

"They haven't been seen for a couple of years now. Why are they active all of a sudden?" The convoy slowly halted, allowing Misty and Brock to see that on the back of one of the flat loading trucks stood a small yellow Pokémon that looked like a rodent with rabbit-esque ears. "It's Pikachu!" Misty exclaimed, trying to keep her voice down to avoid detection. Two Rocket grunts walked into view, talking.

"So, do you think the boss's new plan will work?" The first grunt asked his colleague.

"Why wouldn't it?" The other snapped back. "We've got all the power we need to summon every legendary Pokémon in the world thanks to this new-fangled machine the quacks in the lab built."

"Right." The first grunt replied, rather incredulously. "And… how can we be sure this thing will _actually_ work?"  
"Well, from what I heard, Giovanni ad the quacks extract some form of energy from the Pokémon Master himself. Said they got a lot of energy out of him. Supposedly enough to make the boss the most power man on the planet."

"How did a brat like Ketchum obtain so much power?"

"Well, I suppose it must be something to do with the runt being this so-called legendary 'Chosen One'."

"But what if he tries to interfere? He always finds a way to screw up our plans."

"I wouldn't be concerned about that. The boss had him destroyed. Blew the kid to pieces, along with every scrap of evidence that could jeopardise the boss's plans."

Misty's heart might as well have imploded at the sound of those words. Ash? Ash Ketchum? Dead? How was that possible? And death by Team Rocket? How did they manage that!? They'd tried for so long to steal his Pokémon, ruin his life and take away his title as the Pokémon Master, but they'd never tried to _kill_ him before. Her fists clenched tightly, her nails digging into her palms. She grit her teeth forcefully, biting the sides of her mouth as reluctant tears began to trickle down her face. The one guy she ever thought was special in her life, and now she learns that he was brutally murdered by the most pathetic people she'd ever had the displeasure to encounter. She reached for her belt, her fingers grasping Gyarados' pokéball. She felt a hand touch hers and all but leapt at the sensation, until she realised it was Brock's hand. His face was soft and sympathetic, showing many signs of his own sorrow at the overheard conversation.

"Don't start a fight you can't hope to win." He told her in a hushed tone to avoid detection. "I know how you feel, trust me. And I share your thoughts. I want to do to them what they did to Ash too. But there's too many of them to deal with right now."

"I don't care, Brock!" Misty snapped back, now not trying to hold back her tears as they fountained down her cheeks. "They killed him. They _actually_ killed Ash, Brock. How could they do that to him? To his mother? To his friends!? To _me!?_" She sobbed. "I want to see them pay."

"Misty." Brock cupped her face in his hands softly, making her look him directly in the eye. "If what they say is true and you go barrelling out there, pokéballs drawn, they'll do the same to you. How do you think Ash would feel if he found out that had happened to you?" Misty could only hiccup with grief as her red, puffy eyes slowly ran dry and she could cry no more. "I promise, we'll avenge him some day." Brock continued. "But not today."

Slowly, Misty's hand removed itself from her belt. She looked down at the dirt below them as new tears started to fall afresh. She and Brock quietly slinked back into the forest into the undergrowth. When they were sure they were out of eye and earshot of the Rockets, they broke out in a sprint back to the Pokémon Centre where Ash had been taken. As they reached the building, Misty, tired and heartbroken, fell to her knees and screamed in grief, wailing and sobbing like a grieving mother. Brock knelt down beside her, holding her close to his chest and allowing her tears to soak into his body warmer. He wiped the corner of his eye as he looked to the skies and thought about Ash and what the Rockets had said had happened to him. "Misty…" He whispered, his voice hushed. "I'm sorry. I know how special Ash is to _everyone_ he's met. I always thought of him as an extra brother, myself." He hushed her as she slowly calmed down to whimpering hiccups. "But remember what else they said. About controlling the legendary Pokémon. About extracting some form of energy from Ash before killing him. They're up to something, Mist. And this time, it's bigger than anything they've ever done before. If they're prepared to kill for this scheme, it must be important. We have to prepare ourselves, Misty. Because, now, we are at war. I can sense it. But, right now…" He gulped, knowing that his next words were the scariest words he'd ever hear come out of his mouth. "We need to tell Mrs Ketchum what happened to her son."

* * *

**So. Brock and Misty now know what happened to Ash. Although, I think they now wish they were still ignorant. Here comes a question for you. I have three ideas for the next chapter or two.**

**1. The next next chapter shows Ash's friends and family being told about his death and their reactions.**

**2. Misty's fear of Bug type Pokemon. I have an idea of what to do with it. Do you want to see what I have in store for her?**

**3. Team Rocket are building a machine to control the legendary Pokémon, and Pikcahu's going to help them... willingly. Do you want to see what they have up their sleeves?**

**Until next time everbody, stay safe.**


	3. The Dreaded News

**Greetings readers, Salvador Rider reporting. This chapter took a lot of planning, let me tell you. I'm trying not to let myself rush into the action of the story too soon. So, to recap, Ash has been murdered by Team Rocket after having his aura syphoned for their latest scheme, Brock and Misty have now found out and are about to break the news to the one person they really don't want to tell... Ash's mother. Enjoy.**

* * *

Brock and Misty made the slow and dreadful trek toward Pallet Town, neither looking forward to what they were going to have to say to Delia when they got there. Misty remained silent as a stone, which made Brock more nervous than if she was crying. When Misty's silent, one knows that something is seriously wrong. Her head was slumped forward on her shoulders, her ginger hair flopped down over her eyes and tear stains were clearly visible on her cheeks. But, fearing that his dear friend was in a dreadful place, having heard that the love of her life had been brutally murdered, he chose not to break the deafening silence. After several hours on endless walking, not even stopping for a tea break, the two came to the outskirts of the small town at high noon. They stopped as they looked down at the peaceful settlement, each all but gagging on a lump of fear and dread as they spied a little white house with a red roof on the far end of the town. Misty could feel fresh tears pooling in her tear ducts as she imagined the many horrendous looks of dismay she could expect from Delia as her mind rewound itself like a video cassette to those horrible words she heard from the Rockets. Ash was dead. And that was the one thing Delia would worry herself about more than anything else in the world. If Ash so much sneezed, she'd fuss over him as if he had cancer in his nose or something. As she stared at the quaint, yet strangely daunting, little house of doom, she felt something lightly touch her arm, making her flinch. She turned sharply, only to just barely stop herself from lashing out when she realised it was only Brock trying to urge her down the path into town. She glared at him before making her way down the footpath without a word. Brock followed close behind, knowing that what was to come next would only end in all sorts of bad.

* * *

Delia was sat in the living room with a mug of hot chocolate with miniature marshmallows and cream. Sat in a plush armchair opposite her was Gary, who was absentmindedly swilling his half full mug of lukewarm coffee, staring at the barely visible coffee rind at the bottom of the mug. He glanced up to peer past the lip of his cup to check if Delia was drinking. She looked like she hadn't slept in days. She slowly sipped her hot chocolate with a half-hearted effort, as if the chocolate was curdled blood and she wished to choose to go thirsty rather than drink it. Seeing her like this made Gary's heart sink. He'd always seen Delia as an aunt to him and, although he and Ash had their differences, he fully understood the mother-and-son bond the two of them shared. Ash was Delia's entire world, her rock. To Delia, her little Ashy-boy was the be all and end all of her entire life. And Ash, Gary knew, had all the love and respect in the world for his mother, and always had a habit of giving her a call at least once every other day, or once a week if there was a major event happening on his travels. He glanced up at a bookshelf placed in a nook in the living room wall, and scanned its numerous shelves of endless trophies, ribbons, rosettes and photographs. There were certificates from when Ash first competed in the Indigo Plateau, when he ended in the top sixteen, along with every other league he'd competed in, including his top four win in Sinnoh and his top eight in Unova. On the mantelpiece above the centralised fireplace, there were all the golden Championship trophies Ash had won when he re-entered the leagues a few years later, earning him the invitation to the Master's Tournament last year. Gary couldn't help but crack a small smile to himself as he remembered having watched the deciding battle between Ash and Tobias. It was a close one, with Ash somehow managing to fluke a lucky critical hit and just barely snatching victory from the jaws of inevitable defeat. He glanced back at Delia through the corner of his eye, noticing her attention was taken to the sliding glass door that lead to her garden out the back. She gave a small sigh as her hazel eyes glistened with a little hint of worry as the flowers in her flower patch swayed softly in the noon breeze.

"I'm sure he's just fine." Gary stated in his typical matter-of-factly tone, waking Delia from her daydreams. She turned her head to face him to find him smiling at her with a confident grin. "You know what Ashy-boy's like. He probably saw a platinum Steelix, or something. He'll stalk a beastie like that for months, believe you me." He chuckled as he downed the rest of his frigid coffee, grimacing at the cold tang of the aftertaste. "Why, any minute, that doorbell will ring and in will come Ash cheering for joy and saying 'I got a new Pokémon!' Trust me. He'll be back soon."

The suddenly, as if Gary had scripted it, the doorbell rang, followed by two firm knocks on the front door. Delia looked up at the door in surprise, a smile cracking her lips. Gary snorted and glanced back at the door with a look that wasn't smug, but said "right on cue". "Told ya." He chuckled as Delia placed her mug on the coffee table and hurrying to the door with an answered buzzing sensation of hope. As she swung the door open however, she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, and possibly a little more worried as she noticed Brock and Misty standing before her.

"Oh. Brock, Misty. What an unexpected surprise." She smiled, still happy to have a little more company, even if it weren't the company she was most craving. However, something felt off about the duo. Brock was uncharacteristically shifty, his feet shuffling slightly as his stern face looked a little queasy. And misty looked like she'd been dragged through a deep puddle backwards by her backpack. "Brock? Misty? What's wrong?" She queried, feeling a little pang of dreaded anticipation as she observed the twos' unsettling behaviours. After a long and unsettlingly pregnant moment of silence, Brock glanced toward Misty and decided to speak. Because, clearly, Misty was in no mood for chitchat.

"Mrs Ketchum… is it OK if we come in?" He requested, courteously. His voice was heavy and rusty, as if he'd been muted for hours. With a nod, Delia stepped aside and let them enter. They slowly made their way to the living room, barely acknowledging Gary, albeit with a simple silent wave as they each took a seat. Delia re-joined them in the living room and reclaimed her seat on the sofa, picking up her mug from the coffee table and taking a small sip. As they all sat silently, the atmosphere drastically changed. The air sudden felt warm and heavy, thick enough to be cut with a butter knife. There was a collective feeling of discomfort and unease in the room. Gary looked at Brock and Misty with inquisitive eyes.

"What's got you two so quiet?" He asked in a chirpy tone, trying to lighten the mood. "You look like you've caught a Feebas and released a Milotic." Brock looked up at Gary, showing no signs of a smile or any attitude adjustment from Gary's light hearted remark. "Hey, I was just trying to lighten the tone." Gary said, holding his hands up for peace. "Come on, Brock, what's happened?" He asked, taking a more serious approach. Now, clearly, wasn't the time for jokes. Brock gave a laboured sigh and ran a hand through his spiked hair.

"Well… Misty and I were looking for Ash." He started, slowly. "We traced the way he would've taken from Pewter City to Cerulean. And… we found this by the entrance to Mount Moon." He said, pulling Ash's Pokégear from his pocket. Delia gasped and Gary furrowed his brow at the device.

"That's Ash's." Delia exclaimed in shock.

"I know Ash is a klutz sometimes, but he's not stupid enough to have dropped his Pokégear, let alone leave it abandoned." Gary muttered.

"That's what we thought." Brock concurred with him, placing the Pokégear on the coffee table before resting his head in his hands, trying to calculate his next words carefully. He gripped his hair and gritted his teeth before sitting back up again. "Then, we noticed a convoy of trucks. We followed it for a little while and… well… they were Team Rocket members." Another chorus of gasps came from Delia and Gary. Gary thumped a fist on the edge of the coffee table.

"No way. Ash annihilated those morons! There's no way Team Rocket are still banded after the major punishment Ash dished them!" He argued.

"Again, we thought the same thing." Brock stated bluntly. "But I know what we saw, and they were definitely Rockets." Gary glared into Brock's squinted eyes, looking for any possible signs of deceit. Seeing nothing but honesty and assurance, however, he leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest as he resumed listening. Brock sighed once again, he face distorting into a pain look of despair and dreaded anticipation.

"We overheard them talking… and… and they said that…" He fumbled with his fingers, trying to build up the courage to say that their long-time friend, colleague, rival and son was no longer alive, but the thought of destroying Delia's hope of her son returning was too much to bear. The awaiting gazes of Delia and Gary burned into his mind as he imagined the pained scream of despair and the violent shouts he'd receive for telling his news.

"Ash is dead." Misty muttered, her voice sounding worse than Brocks. She was deadpan and monotone, as if her soul had been sucked clean out of her body, leaving her as a hollow shell. All eyes fell on her, and she refused to speak again as the silence in the room grew thicker. The silence condensed and thickened for what seemed like hours. Suddenly, Gary started roaring with laughter.

"OK, I get it." He chortled, wiping a tear from his eye as he guffawed. "You're having us on, aren't ya?" He snorted, fist bumping Brock on the arm. "You really had me going there for a minute, Brock-o. I mean, the build-up was brilliant, excellent tension. And then Misty pipes up and BOOM! Plot twist! Ash Ketchum, the World Pokémon Master, is dead. Nearly had me there. But the Team Rocket bit… come on, bro, I thought there was something odd about that bit." The continued silence from Brock and Misty as they maintained their solemn expressions soon silenced the chuckling scientist. "You _are_ kidding me, right?" Silence. "Come on, guys, there's only so far you can take this." Still, the gym leaders didn't show any sign of japery. The room then echoed with the sound of a loud smash as a china mug clunked against the coffee table and spun to the floor, shattering into dozens of fragments, spilling cold creamy chocolate and marshmallows over the floor, staining the, previously, pristine white carpet. All eyes turned to Delia, who suddenly looked white as a sheet. Her eyes, once hazel, were now dull oak, and glazed over.

"…Ash?" She squeaked in a monotonous drone before slumping back in her chair, her dead eyes rolling back in her skull as she sagged in her seat. Brock and Gary rushed to her aid as Misty suddenly burst into life to run to the phone and dial Professor Oak's number.

* * *

Delia stirred, moaning in discomfort as she heaved herself slowly to sit up with her back leaned heavily against the headboard of her bed. With heavy-laden eyelids, she slowly scanned her room. Everything was normal, until she spotted Misty slumped in a chair just across the room from her. She stretched and gave a yawn. The golden glow of early morning sunshine filtered into the room in yellow beams that crept through the gaps in the blinds, which swayed softly from the warm daft that drifted in softly through the ajar window. The blinds blew gently, directing the dancing beams of light towards Misty, flashing the light over her eyes, making her stir a little in her seat before she opened her eyes with a moan. She blinked away the strain of an uneasy rest and squinted through the golden streaks of daylight to find Delia awake.

"Morning, Mrs Ketchum." She greeted her with a hushed whisper. The older woman smiled half-heartedly, her mind plagued with a fuzzy memory.

"Good morning, Misty." The lady replied, rubbing her eyes groggily. "I had the most horrific dream." She yawned, making Misty grimace. "For a moment, I thought you and Brock told me that Ash was dead." She finished her story, looking up at the pale and taut redhead. The look of 'Oh crap, she's gonna freak out' wiped all over Misty's face like cheap clown makeup wasn't very reassuring. "Misty? What's wrong?" Misty fumbled with her bangs before croaking in a hesitant tone.

"That wasn't a dream."

The whole house trembled with the piercing sound of a despairing scream, causing Professor Oak to rush up the stairs and into Delia's room. He burst through the door and was straight at Delia's side. He embraced the grieving woman in his arms, shushing her and whispering in her ear to try and comfort her.

"Delia, it's OK. It'll be OK. I know, I know. I could scarcely believe it myself when Brock told me." He hushed her, stroking her long auburn hair as the grieving mother wept into the shoulder pad of his white lab coat.

"All this time. All those years of travelling the world, of saving Pokémon, cities and even preventing the destruction of the universe… and my little Ashy dies at hands of Team Rocket." She choked between her sobs as her tears cascaded down her pale cheeks.

"I know, Delia. It's horrible to imagine." Oak said softly, a small beaded tear oozing from his eye. He'd always thought of Ash as an extra grandson, and was never unsurprised when he'd hear of Ash's numerous feats of heroism. He'd always joke that one day that boy was going to die in the line of duty, giving up his life to become a hero to humans and Pokémon alike until the end of time itself. But, instead, he was brutally murdered by an evil crime syndicate the world believed to have been disbanded and extinct. No one deserved to die like that. Least of all a remarkable young lad like Ash. "Let's go downstairs. I think we could all do with a drink." He suggested, helping Delia to stand and leading the girls downstairs where Gary was sat in the living room with his coffee. Brock was on the phone, talking to Iris, who was in Unova at the time.

"I know, Iris. It's not the kind of news anyone wants to hear." He said as the dark skinned Dragon Master was roaring down the phone at him.

"I KNOW HE'S A LITTLE KID AND EVERYTHING, BUT ASH WOULD _NEVER_ LET HIMSELF BE CAPTURED BY TEAM ROCKET LONG ENOUGH FOR THEM TO KILL HIM!" She screamed, all but deafening the Pokémon doctor.

"I don't think Ash would have had any control over what Team Rocket would have done to him." Brock replied, trying to bring Iris' tone down a little. He'd been calling all of Ash's friends and rivals, and everyone so far were shocked, confused or angry about the news. Even Paul and Trip looked heartbroken when Brock broke the bad news to them.

"As soon as I can clear my calendar, I'm heading straight over." Iris stormed before hanging up the phone with a slam. Brock gave a sigh and slumped back in his seat, rubbing his throbbing temples. Everyone he called were prepared to go out of their way to come to Pallet Town to discuss Ash's death, but Brock couldn't decide if this was a good thing or a bad thing. May broke into tears when she found out, Dawn looked like a bomb had exploded in her room, and Paul looked ready to murder anyone who so much as looked at him funny. This was going to be a conference meeting from hell.

* * *

Over the next seven days, people started to trickle in. Ritchie and May were the first to arrive. Ritchie was visiting family in Viridian and May was getting ready for a contest on Cinnabar Island before the call. Dawn and Zoey arrived soon after, having travelled from Cerulean City where they were visiting the Cape. Max arrived with Trip from Petalburg the following day and Cilan, Iris and Paul flew over from Unova a little later. Bianca and Barry came from Johto as quick as they could, and everyone gathered at Professor Oak's laboratory.

"This just isn't right." May sobbed as she dried her eyes with her handkerchief. "Why would anyone want to kill Ash? He was always such a nice guy." May always thought of Ash as a brother she never had. She never wanted Ash to be her brother over Max, but they had a similar kind of bond between them as she had with Max.

"Team Rocket are cruddy people, May." Max replied, taking off his glasses and polishing the lenses with his shirt. "They're prepared to do anything to get their way." Max had grown up into a fine young man, now the Petalburg gym leader back home. Many years of training had given him a lot of wisdom and strength, both mental strength and physical.

"But never murder." Dawn retaliated, her sapphire eyes burning with hatred at the thought that, for once, Team Rocket had gotten serious. Zoey placed a hand on Dawn's thigh.

"Dawn. I understand your distress. But getting yourself worked up about Ash's death isn't going to help the situation." She said calmly. The bluenette looked at her and nodded sadly.

"I know, Zoey. But I never would've thought Team Rocket would ever have the guts to do something so horrible." She sighed. Silence fell upon the room as each of the grievers silently remembered their experiences with their dear friend and rival.

"I always thought Ketchum would die saving a legendary Pokémon from certain destruction." Paul stated flatly, drawing all eyes to himself as his fist clenched in rage. "But instead he's blown sky high by a load of weedy cowards!" He yelled, punching the table with both fists. "I swear I'll make them pay." He seethed. "They're ALL gonna pay for what they've done."

"Clam yourself, Paul." Brock snapped, authoritatively. "We all share your hate, and we all want to see Giovanni and his people suffer for their crimes. But this time their crime is a lot more serious than a simple scheme to kidnap and steal other peoples' Pokémon. This time, they're serious. This time, they're prepared to kill. And if any one of us tries to stand in their way, I have no doubt in my mind that they wouldn't hesitate to kill us too." Glances were exchanged around the room as everyone listened to Brock's speech. "One way or another, we're all familiar faces to Team Rocket. We all knew Ash in some way, as a friend and as a rival. And we've each played our role in bringing an end to each and every single plot and scheme Team Rocket have hatched. Think about it. If Ash knew we would recklessly risk our necks for him, I think he'd go ballistic." A few nods of agreement were shared. "Whatever Team Rocket's planning this time, it's gonna be big. And, although I don't wish to say it, we can't do anything to stop it overnight this time. We're gonna have to operate like Team Rocket. Underground. In secret. Behind closed doors. We'll need to try and track any Rocket movement. Find out where they're going, what they're doing and what they're aiming for. If we're going to avenge Ash's murder, we're going to have to make sacrifices. There's no way of telling how long this could take. We'd have to have no outside contact. No friends. No family. It could take weeks. Months. Maybe even longer. But, as Arceus is our witness, we _will_ see that Team Rocket receive their just desserts. Who's with me?" A resounding "AYE!" filled the lab as the group of friends and rivals made their vows to honour their friend's name and fight for his memory to end Team Rocket once and for all.

* * *

**So. Ash's friends are instigating a coup d'etat against Team Rocket. For the first time in their lives, THEY must operate in the shadows. How will Ash's friends fare against Team Rocket's most ambitious plot to date? Tune in next time for more action.**


	4. Plans in Motion

**Hello, everybody, Salvador Rider here. This update is being posted sooner than I imagined, since I completed this chapter surprisingly quickly. I guess it's amazing how much free time one has once the first year of university is over. A few questions were raised last chapter, which I'd like to address. ultimateCCC, thank you for raising the question of how Ash's Pokémon are taking the news, I nearly forgot to include that little detail. But that's what this particular update will address. And SerenaTheHedgehog, you were worried that Ash may actually be dead. Well, all I'm prepared to say is "spoilers". BWAHAHAHAHA! No, I jest. But I'm not prepared to reveal any spoilers at any point during the writing of this story. In fact, I'm keeping the details of this story so secret, not even I know the minor details, I'm just letting the flow of the mood take me. Keep an eye out for the two sneaky little interrobangs I added to this chapter. If you don't know what an interrobang is, it looks like the illegitimate lovechild between an exclamation point and a question mark. I feel that it's a very underrated punctuation mark. Enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

At Team Rocket HQ, Giovanni was sat in his office smirking maniacally as he looked over the intelligence his officers had gathered on the locations of the world's legendary Pokémon. The data feeds and spread sheets were all laid out before him on the computer desk, each showing the known locations of each legendary Pokémon. Giovanni chuckled darkly as he reviewed his intelligence officers' findings, each sheet of statistics showing great promise for successful raids to control the legendary Pokémon that resided in the area. A knock at the door stirred him from his work. He glanced up at the door and placed all the spread sheets into his top drawer.

"What is it‽" He snapped, unimpressed at being interrupted. The door opened and a Rocket scientist popped his head round the door.

"My apologies, sir. But we're ready for testing of subject XD 00P." He said. Giovanni's face cracked the most grimacing smile possible as he stood from his desk.

"Excellent. Then let's not waste any time." He crowed as he and the scientist made their way down to the labs.

* * *

As the lift completed its descent to the labs in the basement, the heavy iron doors slid open with a hefty sigh. Giovanni and his scientist accomplice strode out of the tiny capsule and made their way to the testing facility in the bowls of the headquarters. Giovanni placed his large hand on a security scanner once they reached the large circular door to the facility. The device buzzed judgingly as it shone a laser at his palm before beeping acceptingly once it had verified the boss' identity. The circular door whirred into life and opened, allowing the two men to enter before hissing back into place to seal them in. with a smirk, Giovanni strolled leisurely up to an awaiting figure. The testing facility was unimpressive; built for functionality, not for aesthetics. The walls were blindingly sterile and white; half the room surrounded by a large reinforced steel chain link fence, and divided from the other half of the room with a large bulletproof observing window. Stood at the window was a young gentleman, seemingly in his mid-twenties, with silver hair with a jagged ponytail sprouting from the right side of his fringe. He wore a dark pair of slim glasses and a white lab coat with a flared collar. He stood perfectly motionless, smirking smugly as a small black box in the fenced off arena beyond the glass shook and rattled, obviously containing something that wanted to be free. Giovanni came to his side and watched with great interest.

"Doctor Ein, I presume?" He addressed the young physician, without troubling himself with turning to address the man. The young man simple chuckled and nodded.

"The very same, Mister Mortegio." He replied, returning the rather rude gesture of not bothering to turn to address his company.

"I hear that your experiment is ready for its first test run."

"Indeed. I must say, sir, I was fascinated when your men first came to me for my expertise for this, seemingly, trivial procedure. I never expected an electric rat to be so bothersome during the operations. Quite frankly, XD 001 was by far a Lillipup by comparison."

"That electric rat…" Giovanni stated flatly. "…happens to be the formerly inseparable partner of the late Pokémon Master, one deceased Ash Ketchum." He spat.

"Ah. The legend even greater than the legends of the world." Doctor Ein mused, chuckling darkly. "Well, whatever the rat is, it is all but a distant memory, now. Long since forgotten to the darkness that now plagues its tiny little brain." He sneered, pressing a red button on the control pad next to him. The little black box in the arena, before Giovanni's very eyes, collapsed in a heap, allowing him to see the little electric rodent the box encased, snarling and growling like a savage, feral beast. His yellow fur was now blackened, as if he were burnt by wildfire. His beady eyes, once sparkling and inviting, were now hollow and red, burning like little pits of hellfire of rage and hatred. "Every living memory of his former master is dead." Ein chortled. "Replaced with artificial thoughts of neglect and hatred and rage." He sneered, his lips curling into an evil smirk. "Little rodent put up quite the fight. Forever trying to cling onto those sweet and putrefying days with his owner, running around the world, saving entire civilisations, meeting new friends, finding romance, but I was, ultimately, stronger." He smirked, holding up a phial of black, sludge like, fluid. "This chemical is designed to attack a living organism at its nervous system, paralysing its victim and torturing its mind with memory altering hallucinogens. Every happy memory, every good thought, every feeling of love… replaced with feelings of abuse, and loathing, and revenge." He chuckled sinisterly as he slipped the tube back into his coat pocket.

"Your chemical has, indeed, made the rat more aggressive. And, I must admit, made it look less fluffy." Giovanni mused, nodding his approval. "But what about its power? I need a weapon that'll lay waste to anyone who stands in my way." He glanced at the young scientist from the corner of his eye, challengingly. When he'd heard that this, so-called, Doctor Ein was once a scientist who had perfected a way to increase any Pokémon's power by artificially closing the door to its heart, he was prepared to send his agents to the distant region of Orre to break him out of prison. He wanted to be sure he was getting his money's worth on this man. If his experiments didn't deliver and create a savage, ruthless, and unstoppable force of unbridled power, he'd have to wipe the whole project clean, which could impact too heavily on his plans and cause a major inconvenience to his progress. A risk he wasn't prepared to take. The young scientist just smirked and flicked his jagged ponytail.

"If you'd permit me to introduce XD 00P to an expendable subject, you can witness its power first hand." He said, coolly. Giovanni nodded and called for two prisoners to be taken from the headquarters brig for testing XD 00P.

Five minutes later, two Rocket grunts were pushed forcefully into the test arena with XD 00P and their only escape was sealed by two armed guards. The test grunts were two young individuals. The first was a young man, about twenty years of age, with brown eyes and an athletic build. He was looking around nervously at the unfamiliar surroundings, scanning hopefully for an escape route. The second was a young girl, no older than sixteen years old. She was trembling and crying in fear, her sky blue eyes dulled from sleepless nights of torture and her shoulder length blonde hair matted and greasy with dirt clogging her ponytail in knots. XD 00P sniffed the air intently before turning around to spot them. He snarled at them, gnashing his jaws at thin air, froth seeping from his savage teeth.

"These two idiots are prisoners for their incompetence in action." Giovanni seethed as he watched the two youths tremble in fear of the feral rodent they shared their prison with. "Show them no mercy." Ein nodded and picked up a microphone wired to the telecom system in the fight pit.

"Subject XD 00P." He commanded, coolly with a stern, authoritative tone. "I order you to demonstrate your strength. Show your opponents no mercy." At the command, XD 00P snarled at his prey, leaping towards them. The youths screamed in terror and split, hoping the beast would target the other victim first. Without hesitation, XD 00P darted straight in the direction of the boy, hunting him down with feral intentions. He ran on all fours, kicking up a trail of blinding dust in his wake as he gnashed viciously at the boy's heels. The lad yelped in distressed and leapt onto the chain link fence, using whatever purchase he could grasp to desperately clamber up the metal barrier. XD 00P barked up at him angrily, before grabbing the fence with his tiny paws and started to shake the chain link confines. Despite the mouse's tiny stance in relation to the metal walls encasing him and his victims, the rodent's shakes caused the entire structure of the fence to wobble like a jelly, swaying to and fro as the young man clung on for dear breath. With growing rage at being denied his first hunt, XD 00P's fur began to spark and crackle with black lighting, charging for a devastating electric attack. With a single cry, the mouse sparked his attack, transferring thousands of watts of electricity into the reinforced steel fence, frying the young lad alive as he screamed out in pain. His muscles spasmed and twitch from the unforgiving electric torture, causing his fingers to slip. He lost his hold on the fence and fell to the floor with a sickening crunch as he landed on his shoulder blades, cracking his upper back. He lay on the floor, twinging in agony as XD 00P stalked up to him, snarling ferociously. As the feral beast neared, the man tried helplessly to flee from his inevitable demise, only to scream out in pain before the monstrous Pokémon gave an almighty roar and sunk his teeth deep into his throat and ripping away his trachea with a single jolt of his neck. The creature spat out the bloody mass of flesh onto the man's lifeless face as his throat gave a ghastly gurgle as his blood pooled in the freshly hollowed out cavity in his neck. The girl, by now, was cowering behind a rock in the arena, weeping her eyes out in terror. She turned with a shriek as she heard a terrible snarl just millimetres from her head before the ghastly Pikachu pounced at her, slashing at her face with his claws as he hacked away chunks of flesh from her skull with veracious blood thirst. Looking on from the observation window, the two men sneered with sadistic menace at the demise of the two lowly grunts.

"Impressive." Giovanni admitted, now gracing Doctor Ein by turning to address him. "A splendid performance of power and formidity." He congratulated the scientist, offering his hand, which the young doctor took firmly with a shake.

"I'm sure, Mister Giovanni, sir, that you wouldn't have expected anything less."

* * *

"Brock? Misty? Can I talk to you for a minute?" Tracey asked, as the pair were sat in the professor's kitchen with their morning coffees.

"Yeah, sure, Trace. Pull up a chair." Brock answered him, half-heartedly, waving at the vacant chair at the dining table. Tracey sat down at the table and leaned on his forearms on the table. He took a deep breath and looked between the two gym leaders.

"Well, I've been thinking about what you said to everyone yesterday and… well, I'm just worried about how we're gonna break this to Ash's Pokémon here at the ranch. I mean, it'll break their hearts, but we've gotta tell them." Brock and Misty silently looked at each other. Both gave a shaky sigh as they downed the final dregs of their coffee before placing their mugs down on the table, heads hung heavily.

"He's right, Brock." Misty admitted, slowly rising from her chair. "I'll go tell them the news." She said as she turned to head out to the ranch.

"No, Mist. I should be there with you. It'll be tough to tell them alone." Brock protested, pushing his chair back form the table and pushing himself to his feet.

"No, Brock. I'll be fine." Misty retaliated in her bluntest 'don't argue with me' tone. Brock stood standing for a brief second, but then simply nodded before taking the mugs to the kitchen and starting the washing up. Misty sighed heavily and slowly made her way out to the ranch. As she stepped out into the sunlight, she felt a sharp pang in her chest and a bitter lump in her throat as she thought of what she was going to tell Ash's Pokémon that their master was no longer going to be there for them. She knew that Ash's Pokémon doted upon him dearly, with a few examples being exceptionally true. As much as it'd break her heart to tell them that Ash was gone, Misty knew that it was the right thing to do. She didn't need to look too far before she stumbled across Bulbasaur, who was on one of his routine patrols to keep the peace. As the bulb Pokémon spotted her, he smiled and walked up to her with a friendly smile. She smiled back weakly and knelt down to give the small plant dinosaur a hug, petting him softly. "Hi Bulbasaur." She greeted him, with forced cheer. "Could you do me a favour, please?"

"Bulba." The grass type said with a nod.

"I need you to gather all of Ash's Pokémon here on the ranch. It's important. Tell them to meet me at the old oak in the middle of the ranch, OK?" The Pokémon nodded again and ran off into the ranch, rounding up all of the Pokémon Ash kept at the ranch.

It didn't take long until all of Ash's Pokémon were rounded up and gathered underneath the old oak tree in the centre of the Pokémon ranch. All the Pokémon were quietly murmuring amongst themselves. What was going on? What di Misty have to say? What could be so urgent about it? All eyes soon fell silently upon Misty, who was sat slumped against the roots of the elderly tree, her head hung low with her bangs covering her eyes. She looked out through her hair at the amassed Pokémon, all hanging eagerly to her body language, awaiting the big news with anticipation. She drew in a deep breath and plucked up the courage to look up at the creatures, in spite of her fearful dread that made her stomach perform backflips in her belly. "Everyone…" She started slowly. "I know you've all been waiting to hear back from Ash. He's been out of contact for an uncharacteristically long period of time." The Pokémon all nodded, hoping that she was going to say that Ash had been back in contact lately, and he'd be on his way back home soon. "But… Brock and myself went out to find him." Misty continued, the Pokémon now hanging on her every word, hoping for good news. "But we didn't find him." She reported, earning herself numerous sighs of disappointment from the listening creatures. "And I'm very sorry to tell you all, but… Ash is never coming home." Misty choked, the lump in her throat now tasting like bile that burned her lips as she held in her tears. The Pokémon gasped, and started to murmur to each other again. Not coming back? Had Ash gone missing? Had he run away? Worse? What could've happened? "I know this is going to be hard to accept." The redhead continued. "I still don't want to accept it myself. But…" She took a deep breath. "Ash is dead." The Pokémon gasped louder this time. But none louder than Bayleef. Upon hearing those words, her heart snapped like a twig. Ash? He was… dead? But how? Sure, Ash was an idiot sometimes and ran into dangerous situations like he was chasing an ice cream van, but he never got himself into a life or death situation before. Surely she's joking. Right? "Brock and I overheard some Team Rocket grunts the other day. They murdered Ash." No! That can't be true. Team Rocket… actually _killed_ Ash? Bayleef's Ash? All the Pokémon cried out in dismay at the news, but Bayleef broke out in tears. "Bayleef, I know it's hard to hear. Believe me, I understand." Understand? How could Misty understand? She's just… she's just a human. In floods of heartbroken tears, Bayleef ran away from the group of horrified Pokémon, breaking down the fence that bordered the perimeter of the ranch as she fled into the forest. "Bayleef‽ Bayleef, come back!" Misty pleaded, in vain, since Bayleef was long gone. Tracey came running out to see what the fuss was.

"What happened?" He huffed, leaning on his knees to catch his breath.

"Bayleef ran off in tears." Misty told him. "I guess the shock of finding out Ash was murdered was too much for her." The rest of the Pokémon, shocked and confused from the day's events, all started to cry too, leaving Misty and Tracey no choice but to try and comfort them all and reassure them that all of Ash's friends would see Team Rocket put to justice.

* * *

**And there's your latest update. Poor Pikachu. Now he's the latest victim of the Shadow Pokémon corruption, courtesy of the evil Doctor Ein. And now Bayleef's run off into the wild in floods of tears, leaving the rest of Ash's Pokémon to come to terms with their trainer's death on their own. Next chapter, Misty's going to go through the worst and most traumatic hell she can ever imagine hell can be... willingly. Catch up with Brock, Misty and the others next time. Please do leave your feedback and suggestions, the reviews help me out a great deal, both as an author and as a person, your views really help me struggle through my depression. Thank you to everyone.**


	5. War and Hell

**Hello readers. Salvador Rider back again. So, Pikachu's now a Shadow Pokémon, and a deadly killing machine. Team Rocket's plan is almost ready to activate. But first, a certain someone has to relinquish her fears to be fully prepared to avenge her best friend's death. Yes, as promised, Misty is finally doing something to get over her hindering fear of bug type Pokémon. A few more questions were raised in the reviews last chapter, so I'd just like to address them. Some blue hedgehog, like I said, I'm not releasing spoilers for future updates on Ash's death but, let's just say, he's not going to be in Team Rocket's hair anymore. In response to amarantethecheeta, at the moment, I'm setting up the story, and I may be following Team Rocket pursuing one or two legendary ****Pokémon before any possible time skips. I may not even do a time skip at any point, or if I do, it may be only a couple of months, but only time will tell. And partner555, I may introduce Jessie and James if I can think of a way to introduce them into the story. Well, I've covered everything I want to mention for now, so please do enjoy the next chapter, everyone.**

* * *

The following day, Misty, Brock and Tracey went looking for Bayleef. They had breakfast at six in the morning before setting out to hunt for the Johto starter in the forest where she ran away. They spent hours searching for her, but no trace was left. Bayleef was gone. After yesterday's heart breaking news, no one could honestly say they blamed her, but it was deeply upsetting, nonetheless, that Bayleef would resort to running away after hearing that her trainer died. Misty slumped against a tree trunk, giving up on searching for Bayleef; she obviously wasn't in the mood to be found.

"Maybe we should go back to the ranch, then." Brock suggested. "Maybe we can find Bayleef while we track Team Rocket." Tracey and Misty solemnly agreed and the three made their way back to Professor Oak's research lab. May and Dawn were sat in the living room talking to Drew and Kenny. They were discussing setting up informant circles among their friends and rivals to increase their chances of gathering as much intelligence as they could get. Drew was a little hesitant at the thought, simply because of Harley. The Cacturne wannabe always managed to send shivers down the guy's spine; it was something about his mannerisms. The classic 'Is he? Isn't he?' debate, which hadn't gone undiscussed in the past. Just… always behind his back.

"Just try to get him to be serious for long enough to tell him what's going on." May tried to urge him. "I need as much help as I can get on this." With a heavy sigh, Drew agreed.

"But you owe me _big_ time for this, May." He retaliated, making the brunette giggle.

"I'll consider giving you your date." She told him, teasingly. "But no promises." She chuckled as she hung up.

"We said no contact on the outside, May." Brock said as he entered the room with Tracey and Misty. May turned round to them, looking a little annoyed that Brock would put a downer on all her effort like that.

"And how am I supposed to be in two places at once, Brock?" She bit back. "Look, you said it yourself. Team Rocket are no longer playing petty thieves. This time, it's a full scale war they're after. And if it's a war they want, it's a war they're gonna get." She seethed, standing to her full height, puffing out her chest. "If we ask some friends to keep their eyes and ears open, we stand more chance of getting information on what Team Rocket are up to." Misty and Tracey looked at Brock with an expression that said "She has a point". Sighing, Brock gave in, saying he'd pass a message round to all the gym leaders to keep their eyes skinned for anything that could indicate Team Rocket activity.

"Well, I think I'd better get going." Misty said, picking up her backpack by the front door. "I'll need to collect the rest of my Pokémon from the gym." She said her farewells and made her way out of Pallet Town.

* * *

The young redhead wandered out of the Cerulean entrance to Mount Moon and slowly made her way towards her hometown. All the while, her mind was plagued with flashbacks of the Team Rocket assholes she and Brock overheard talking about Ash's death and the horrified faces of her friends and acquaintances at the news of Ash's death. Her thoughts continued to haunt her all the way through the doors of the gym… and into the arms of a very big and very burly stranger. A man grabbed her from behind the doorway, hooking an arm around her neck with a suffocating hold. Misty gasped and gagged as she struggled against her aggressor's stranglehold, clawing at his wrists to try and break herself free. Her eyes rolled back in her sockets as her body gasped for oxygen. As her strength began to fail her, she heard a grunt of sharp pain, but she wasn't sure who's voice it was; hers or her attacker's. She got her answer, however, as she felt the stranglehold around her neck grow limp as her aggressor slumped to one side, landing on the cold tiled floor with a crunch. Misty managed to shrug off her limp attacker before falling to her knees, gasping and hacking, her lungs desperately trying to regain some much needed oxygen. Turning to face back, she found her attacker was a middle aged man dressed in a black uniform. He had dark brown hair and sunglasses, now with one lens popped out by whatever knocked him out. Misty looked up and found a familiar Poliwrath standing over the man, frowning disapprovingly at the unconscious attacker. She smiled as best she could as she struggled to raise herself to her feet. The Poliwrath took her hand to support her weight as she rose woozily to standing.

"Thanks, Poliwrath." She said, hugging the fighting frog Pokémon. The Poliwrath was a recent addition to the gym, but had already seen off many trainers looking to challenge the Cerulean gym, only having lost a handful of times. The frog gurgled contentedly as he returned the hug. As the two broke away, they looked down at the mysterious aggressor who'd tried to suffocate Misty. "Brock was right." She thought aloud. "Team Rocket will stop at nothing, this time."

* * *

The man choked and garbled through the towel wrapped round his face as Corsola mercilessly soaked the cloth with her Water Gun attack. The suffering prisoner fussed and struggled against the ropes tied firmly around his body as the coral Pokémon threatened to drown him. With a simple hand gesture, Misty called off her torturer and whipped the towel from the Rocket's face, snarling at him. "What is Giovanni planning‽" She demanded for the umpteenth time. This grunt was a hard nut to crack; she'd been torturing him in the maintenance cupboard for a good hour now, and he still resisted.

"Fuck you." The man spat at her, earning himself a slap from the redhead. "I'll never tell you anything. The boss has already killed your buddy, Ketchum." The man sneered as Misty's rage boiled more and more. "And he'll happily dispatch you as well." With a scream, Misty picked the man up by the lapels and through him against the wall in the cupboard. He landed with a crash, splitting a plastic bucket as his temple collided with it on the way down. Again, Misty covered his face and Corsola resumed drenching the cloth, making the grunt gargle and squirm, desperate to escape. Holding the man against the wall, Misty removed the towel once more, snarling at him venomously.

"Last chance." She growled. "Since when was Giovanni a murderer? What sort of plan is so worth protecting, he's prepared to kill for it?" The Rocket grunt growled at her, defiantly struggling in her grip.

"Team Rocket shall rule the world." He said, as if he was sure that if he died here, his death would be worthwhile. "And then, you will all suffer." Kicking him in the stomach, Misty wrapped the dripping towel around the grunt's face, tying a hosepipe around his neck and leaving him to suffer alone as Corsola climbed onto the man's chest and shot him, point blank, in the face with the last Water Gun he'd ever feel.

Rubbing her temples as she walked around the pool, Misty sighed as she thought to herself about the Rocket grunt who tried to assassinate her, and why Giovanni would send someone to try and murder her. Whatever scheme Giovanni was protecting, it was definitely big. But what secret, what mission could there be that only murdering the number one enemy of Team Rocket and his associates could protect what they were doing? Her thoughts were interrupted, however, by an ominous hissing sound coming from behind one of the bleachers by the pool side. Misty froze dead in her tracks and slowly turned around to see what the source of the noise was. Slowly, out from behind the bleacher, crawled a small purple insect with two large antennae on its head. The creature had a pronounced hump on the upper part of its body, just behind its head. The most part of its body was magenta, with black circles and markings on its 'shoulders', neck, and antennae. Its eyes had very highly pronounced eyelids and yellow sclera. The lower part of the Pokémon's body is segmented, and coloured a slightly bluish green. At the sight of the creature, Misty shuddered. Her spine crawled as she watched tens of dozens more insects crawl from out of every crevice they could possibly hide in. Within seconds, the army of insects had amassed to way in excess of around a hundred or so. "B-b-bugs." She shivered, petrified to the spot in fear. The bug at the front of the swarm gave a hiss, and all the creatures started buzzing loudly with a deafening din. Clutching her head, Misty sank to her knees, screaming in pain as her eardrums were tortured horribly by the incessant buzzing. She could feel her ribcage rattle as the sonic waves pulsed through her flesh and into her bones. If she couldn't get these bugs to shut up quickly, she would be deafened, or worse. Suddenly, a monstrous roar echoed through the high ceilinged room, drowning out the horrific buzz and stunning the bug Pokémon into silence. Misty looked around for a way out to escape from the bugs. She made a break for the door that lead deeper into the gym, but the Venipede clocked her making a run for it. Just as she was an arm's reach from the doors, the centipede swarm spat a barrage of Toxic Spikes, laying poisonous barbs all around the gym leader's feet, trapping her just inches from salvation. "HELP!" She screamed in terror. As if in response to her cry, Gyarados surfaced in the pool, roaring in anger at the Venipede. The bug Pokémon shrieked and cowered as the atrocious serpent glared down the tiny creatures. With a single breath, the water snake blasted the swarm with a powerful Fire Blast, burning each and every one of them. The blackened bugs screamed in pain and retreated as fast as they could. Gyarados lifted his tail out of the pool and cooped Misty up on the paddle, lifting her away from the toxic spikes that trapped her. Once safely out of harm's way, Misty allowed herself to sink to her knees with a sigh, releasing the breath she had held for the longest time in her life. "Phew. Thanks, Gyarados." She trembled, still a little shaky after the horrific encounter. "I'd probably be dead if you hadn't stepped in." Gyarados roared happily, relieved that his trainer was safe. After a second of silence, Misty started to cry quietly, making the serpent groan motheringly, not liking to see his trainer crying. "I'm OK, Gyarados." Misty hiccupped, wiping her eyes dry and smiling weakly to reassure her concerned Pokémon. "I'm just a little tired, is all. And that fright with those bugs really shook me up. I just need an early night." She said, as she made her way upstairs to her room. As she reached her room, she let her hair down and changed into her sapphire nightgown. She turned on a Chinchou nightlight, Azumarill's favourite nightlight, and climbed into bed. As she tucked herself under the covers, all she could think about was the horrifying encounter she'd had with the Venipede. She closed her eyes and settled down to a night of dreamless, restless sleep.

* * *

The gym was quiet. _Too_ quiet for Misty's liking. All the lights were off, the pool filters weren't humming, and everything in the gym was inactive and dead. Literally. In the aquarium, all the Pokémon were lying belly up on the surface of the water. Not a single one of them were breathing. Misty was stood on the high dive above the pool, looking out in fear and sorrow as she watched the corpses of her beloved Pokémon slowly bobbing up and down in the greenish water. There was only one thing that could explain the death of her Pokémon like this. Poison. Poison in the water. A lone tear seeped down her face as Misty's eyes were magnetically drawn to the floating corpse of her beloved Azumarill, who looked like she'd been more than merely poisoned. One of her ears was gone, and looked like it'd been ripped off by some sort of slicing jaw. She had bites all over her face and flesh had been ripped out of her abdomen, exposing her internal organs in a gory display of flesh and blood. She gagged and turned away, feeling the bile bubbling in her throat at the gruesome sight that lay before her. How could it end this way? Her Pokémon. Her closest friends. Her little baby. They were all dead. A deadly hiss emanated from somewhere near the poolside, sending a shiver up her spine. As she turned to face the entrance to the pool room, a giant bug Pokémon scuttled into the room. It was a colossal centipede-like Pokémon, with bright magenta coloration interspersed with purple rings spaced evenly along its segmented upper body. It had two large horns extending from its head, similarly to antennae, which were very long and slightly twisted like pipe cleaners. The giant bug hissed venomously, eyeing her hungrily. Misty stood stiff as a board on top of the high dive, preying to Arceus this bug couldn't climb. The Scolipede scuttled around the pool to the bottom of the ladder, snarling and snapping its mandibles at her. The terrified gym leader shrieked and wrapped her arms around herself in fear as the formidable bug hissed angrily at her. The giant centipede started to ram the ladder, making the entire diving apparatus wobble and shake with the force of the impact. Misty shrieked as she stumbled, just barely managing to turn herself quick enough to land chest first against the board and wrap her limbs around it for dear life. But the Scolipede wasn't going to allow her to escape, and continued to slam his bulky body against the diving platform's support pole, buckling the pole with each strike. After half a dozen slams, the giant bug hissed in rage and sank his mandibles into the metal support, tearing it in half with a single jolt of his head, sending Misty down into the toxic water below her, screaming as she fell. She watched in terror as the gruesomely mauled corpse of Azumarill came closer and closer, before opening her eyes just before Misty's vision was consumed by darkness.

* * *

Misty awoke with a jolt, screaming as she felt something wet squirt her face. She sat up and panted, dripping wet. As she recomposed herself, she noticed Azumarill standing on the foot of her bed, babbling hurriedly, like a child who'd witness her mother suffer a heart attack.

"Azu! Azu! AZUMARILL!" She gabbled, jumping into Misty's arms and hugging her close. Misty wrapped her arms around her panicked water rabbit, petting her between the ears.

"It's OK, Azumarill." She hushed the crying bunny in her arms. "Mummy was just having a bad dream." She kissed the aquatic bunny on the forehead before slowly shuffling her legs over the edge of her bed to stand. "Let's go downstairs and have some breakfast." She said as she stepped into her slippers and carried Azumarill downstairs to the kitchen.

As Azumarill nibbled her Pokémon food happily, Misty stared into her full mug of coffee, mindlessly swilling the brown liquid, her mind drowning in thoughts of the horrific images she had last night. The pool. The gym's Pokémon. And that awful bug that nearly killed her. These were the things that made her so scared of bug Pokémon. The sounds they make as they walk around. The pitter patter of their pointed feet as the scuttle. The clicking and chattering when hunting. And the unnatural number of legs a single bug can have. Most living things live quite happily on two or four legs. Why to bugs have six to eight, or more? The thoughts crawled through her brain, making her skin itch with each horrific, nightmarish image flashing before her eyes.

"You might wanna get that coffee down your throat soon, sis." Came an unexpected voice, making Misty jolt a little in surprise. "Ya know… before it goes cold on ya." She looked up to see Daisy smiling cheekily at her. She sighed and took a small sip from her mug. Daisy's cheeky smile soon faded into a concerned furrowed brow. "What's up with you this morning, lil' sis?" She asked. "You look like you've found a penny and lost a dollar." Misty looked up at her, knowing that her oldest sister could always tell when something was wrong. Back when she was ten, she and her older sisters were like chalk and cheese. She hated her sisters, and they didn't like her either. But after she, Brock and Ash parted ways after travelling through the Johto region, she and Daisy bonded pretty quickly while Daisy was taking a break from the pop star/superstar/water ballerina lifestyle. And, during that time, Daisy came to think of her little sister, finally, as the fourth Sensational Sister of the family. Lily and Violet took a little more time to bond with, since they were less willing than Daisy to take a breather from the constant spotlight attention and screaming hordes of fans until many years later. She sighed heavily.

"Ash is dead." She said in a monotonous, deadpan voice. Azumarill's ears perked up and she looked up across the table at Misty, whose head was hung heavily, with her bangs shading her eyes. Daisy looked surprised at her sister's bluntness, but a second later she broke out into giggles, misinterpreting Misty's tone for one of an excuse to cover up the fact she was just in a foul mood this morning.

"No, really sis. I may not have known Ash as long as you, but I know he's no foolhardy daredevil who goes getting into life threatening situations."

"You're wrong." Misty all but snapped, making Daisy jump. "He got himself into several tight spots over the years. And nearly died more times than I care to admit. And now…" Misty started tearing up, her voice cracking as she swallowed her pride and allowed herself to show emotion in front of her sister. "…now he's gone." She cupped her face in her hands and wept loudly. Daisy rushed to her side and wrapped her arms gently around her baby sister. She stroked Misty's hair and hushed her motheringly as the young redhead clamped her arms around her, sobbing. "And last night, a Team Rocket agent tried to kill _me¸_ too." Daisy gasped and relinquished her to look the redhead in the eyes.

"For serious?"

"Why would I lie about something as serious as that?" The two sisters stared into each other's eyes for a while before pulling each other back into their hug. "Poliwrath saved me."

"That's good. I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost you, baby sister." Misty cried again, prompting Daisy to rub her back softly. "What happened to him?"

"I tried to get some information out of him. But he wouldn't talk, so I let Corsola drown him." Daisy tensed. Misty let her Pokémon _kill_ a human? She relinquished Misty again, looking into her eyes. There was no sign of lies or jest. Only pure, unbridled, hatred.

"Whoa, sis. That's not like you. At all." She breathed. Misty just shrugged. "What are you gonna do if someone finds his body?"

"Poliwrath threw his body into the river near Cerulean Cave." Misty said, bluntly. "It'll be as if he drowned. And Team Rocket are wanted criminals, who would care?" Daisy stared blankly. True, Team Rocket were a worldwide wanted syndicate of crooks. But still. Misty, a killer? Daisy would've never imagined her little sister would _ever_ have the gall to actually kill _anyone_. Things must've been really serious to drive her baby sister to committing murder. "Whatever Team Rocket's up to, sis, it's massive. And Brock and I are not going to let them carry out whatever scheme they're pursuing, this time. If they're prepared to _kill_ rather than steal, then it _must_ be important to them." Daisy stared into Misty's eyes for a minute, before silently nodding, knowing that Misty had a point. Team Rocket were thieves, not killers. Whatever was going on was definitely bad news.

* * *

Misty walked alone through the streets of Saffron City as the church clock tower chimed midday. After travel a couple of miles to come here, she was now dreading the decision she made, pulling in some favours from Duplica and Sabrina. She'd discussed the incident after Corsola put the Rocket agent to his water death, and the nightmare she had as a result of it, and Daisy recommended to her that she needed to face her fears head on. And if anyone could replicate one of Misty's most feared scenarios, it would definitely be Sabrina and Duplica. Duplica and her Ditto were masters of imitation, so they'd be able to create the illusion of bug Pokémon easily. And Sabrina… she was just a creepy psychopath. If anyone knows how to generate fear, it's Sabrina. She came to a house with the name "COPYCAT" on the letter box. This was Duplica's childhood house, and the place she asked to meet her and Sabrina at. Swallowing a large gulp of oxygen, Misty walked up the pathway to the front door and raised her hand to knock. As soon as she raised her knuckles, however, the door slowly swung open of its own accord. Definitely Sabrina, the creepy weirdo, she thought to herself as she hesitantly stepped inside. As she entered, the door slowly slid closed. She turned to look at the door back for a split second and, as she turned around again, she froze in fear as she found an exact replica of herself sat on the large table in front of her with a Galvantula hugging her shoulders. The look alike smiled at her and petted the giant spider Pokémon comfortably, earning a happy hiss from the massive arachnid. Misty's eye flickered uncomfortably as she watched the doppelgänger pet a bug Pokémon as if it were a new-born puppy. As she watched, the entire room started to warp and distort, the dimensions of space and time seeming to change and alternate unnaturally. The sounds of scuttling, hissing and clicking were all that Misty could hear as the space around her seemed to warp and fade into a swirling mass of… BUGS! Everywhere. Everywhere she looked, all she could see was a teeming, seething mass of bug Pokémon, all crawling over and around each other. Paras were rubbing claws with Nincada. Ninjasks were shedding their shells to become Shedinja. And Ariodos and Galvantula were spinning webs together. Misty gagged as she watched the crawling nest of bugs as they swarmed around, clicking and hissing. The doppelgänger rose from her seated position and walked toward the centre of the swarm. She turned to face Misty and spread out arms out. As she did, Misty watched all the bug Pokémon stop what they were doing and turn to face the duplicate. With a single breath, all of the bugs shot a String Shot attack at her, coating her skin slowly with silk. Misty trembled as the copy slowly disappeared from view under a mess of sticky bug silk as it started to thicken around her and grow into the shape of a giant cocoon. Soon, the cocoon was the size of a human hamster ball, and the imposter Misty was hidden entirely from view. Suddenly, all the bug Pokémon screeched and started to swarm all over the cocoon, writhing and scuttling across the cocoon's enormous diameter. The hissing and screeching grew louder and louder, and the mass of bug Pokémon crept closer and closer to Misty, making her heart start to pound in terror as she watched the writhing mess of bugs, seemingly, devour the cocoon alive. She pressed her back against a seemingly invisible wall as she fearfully watched the bugs crawl over the cocoon and start to morph the shape of the silken prison into the shape of a Scolipede, working like a colonial organism to move the giant beast. The creature gave a hiss and lurched forward for Misty. She flinched in recoil, screaming out in terror before the giant centipede halted its assault, a bright white light emanating from its belly. The giant bug looked down at its stomach as it swelled and cracked. The monstrosity hissed and clicked with discomfort before its entire body exploded like a firework, leaving nothing but a silhouetted figure standing before a speechless Misty. As the light faded out, the front room of Duplica's house came back into view, and the Misty double was stood on the table, smiling. She was clad in a beautiful ball gown decorated to look like a Butterfree, complete with Butterfree eyes for earrings and antennae for a tiara. Behind her, coiled around her softly, cradling her like a plushie cushion was a giant Caterpie, about the size of a Seviper. Misty stared, more in awe than fear. The doppelgänger held out a hand and beckoned Misty towards her. Slowly and hesitantly, she tiptoed forward, the Caterpie looking towards her, but just above her head to avoid direct eye contact. The double Misty placed a hand on the side of the Caterpie's head, earning a happy chirrup from the oversize caterpillar. Misty, absentminded, reached out and slowly placed her hand on the Caterpie's face. The other Misty looked to her and smiled, nodding as she stroked the bug's head. Misty couldn't help but feel… strangely secure in the presence of this large Caterpie. After having seen all those horrible bugs coalesce into something horrifying, one giant, yet somehow cute, bug didn't seem so bad. The Caterpie slowly nuzzled her hand, and Misty couldn't help but notice that its skin wasn't slimy or sticky, as she'd always feared, but more… fuzzy. Like its skin was made of crafting felt. She smiled and petted the caterpillar willingly, smiling as she heard the bug chirrup contently.

"Well done, Misty." The doppelgänger smiled. "You've officially come to accept a bug type Pokémon." She smiled and pulled off her wig to reveal the friendly face of Duplica. Misty giggled and looked at the Caterpie.

"That was quite the performance you had there, Duplica." She complemented as the giant bug began to shrink and reveal itself to be a Ditto, about half the size of a normal Ditto.

"Thanks. But Mini-Dit and I couldn't have pulled it off if it weren't for Sabrina." As if on cue, Sabrina walked downstairs, smiling warmly as she joined the two girls.

"It's been a while, Misty." She said as she extended a hand in welcome.

"I'm not sure if it's been too long or not long enough." Misty joked as she shook hands with the psychic. Sabrina chuckled warmly before retrieving her hand.

"So, how'd you like the show?"

"It was… surprising."

"You looked like you wanted to die." Duplica giggled as she hugged Mini-Dit.

"I kinda did." The redhead admitted. "Sabrina's illusions were so realistic; I could feel my skin crawl just watching."

"Well, if your fear of bugs wasn't so strong, I may not have even needed to do it." Sabrina said, bluntly. "But sometimes, the only way to face one's fears is to face them head on in unfamiliar surroundings. Only then can one truly come to realise that fear is only an illusion of the mind. One that can only be broken with self-awareness." Misty's face dropped as Sabrina finished her sentence. The psychic, of course, was all too aware of her mind. "I know you've had an unpleasant few days, Mist." She said, kindly. Duplica nodded.

"Believe it or not, I can sense your pain as well." She said. "Sometimes, if I create a strong enough connection with someone I'm impersonating, I can feel what their heart is feeling at that time." Misty looked between the two girls, and nodded, tearing up at the corners of her eyes. The girls embraced as Misty allowed a few tears to drop from her eyes.

"We'll avenge him, Misty." Sabrina promised. "Together."

* * *

**And thus, Misty is now no longer fearful of bug types. If anyone thinks that the last section of the story isn't written very well, please do tell me how I may improve the writing. I love to get feedback from you wonderful people, it makes me feel good. For anyone interested, the torture method Misty was using on the Team Rocket agent is called waterboarding, and is a very traumatising experience for the victim, as it creates the sensation of drowning and oxygen deprivation and it could cause brain damage and even death because of the drowning illusion it causes to the brain. Next chapter, I may introduce you all to a little bit more about Giovanni's plan. If you have any plot suggestions, I'm open to all ideas. All credit will be given if your idea is used in a future chapter. Until next time, stay safe everyone.**


	6. Rockets Roll Out

**Hello everybody. Salvador Rider, back again. Now we're going to see the first victims of Ein's newest Shadow Pokémon project. A little shoutout to partner555; thank you for your constructive criticism on my previous chapter, I did feel one or two paragraphs were maybe too long, so I'm trying to keep a conscious eye out to prevent my paragraphs waffling on too long. And as for including the Elite Four and Champions, I'm going to leave them out until a little bit later. The reason is because I see the Elite Four of a region to, in essence, be a form of 'government' in the Pokémon world, so I'll get them involved when the story gets into the world domination stage. Enjoy the next chapter, readers.**

* * *

Giovanni sat in his chair, smirking evilly as he watched the footage of all the tests Professor Ein took of his tests of XD 00P. The corrupted electric rodent was relentless, willing to rip his victims open with his bare teeth in a flurry of furry rage. No matter what size or strength of the victim, XD 00P wasted no time in brutally murdering each one with feral voraciousness. Whatever these, so-called, 'Shadow Pokémon' were, they were powerful, Giovanni couldn't deny that much. And, according to Ein, the legendary Pokémon could, too, succumb to this dark power, increasing their powers ten thousand fold. Imagine. The legendary Pokémon of the world at Team Rocket's command, each with heightened, rage powered, strength. Team Rocket would rule all Earth forever. There was a knock at the door, and Professor Ein leaned his head round the doorframe.

"Mister Mortegio, sir." He greeted, bowing courteously. "I've received news from a field agent. They've located four legendary Pokémon in a region known as the Orange Archipelago." He reported, making Giovanni smirk with content.

"Excellent." He crowed, standing from his chair. "Then let us waste no time." He said as he strode out the door, closely followed by his Persian and Ein.

* * *

Tracey walked along the streets of Viridian City. He was doing a little shopping for Professor Oak for ingredients for a new blend of Pokémon food he wanted to try out. According to Professor Juniper, if a particular blend of herbs and spices were mixed together, it could make certain Pokémon, which would normally needed to be traded in order to evolve, evolve almost naturally. Obviously, the professor was surprised at this theory and, being Professor Oak, he _had_ to give it a try. But Tracey was all too happy to volunteer and get the supplies the professor needed. The old man was now getting into his seventies and, while he wasn't exactly arthritic, he wasn't the most mobile of old men these days. Plus, it got Tracey out of the lab for a little while to prevent himself going stir crazy. He'd been doing mostly paperwork for a number of years now, and he was starting to find it rather exhausting. As he was exiting Viridian, his mobile phone started ringing. He placed his bags down by a nearby tree and answered his caller.

"Hello, Tracey Sketchit talking, how may I help you?"

"Trace! It's Gary." Came his response.

"Hey Gary. What's up?"

"A lot of bad stuff, I'm afraid, mate." Tracey's face dropped into a worried frown.

"Why? What's happening?"

"Well, the Pokémon here in the lab are going berserk, and I don't know what's got them all worked up." Gary was working in the Orange Islands on Sayda Island, a previously undiscovered island now used for Pokémon fossil research.

"Very peculiar." Tracey said, scratching his chin in contemplation.

"I need Brock and Misty down here pronto. Tell them to get to Viridian Airport and ask for Steve. He's my pilot. My jet should get them here in less than an hour." Gary said before hanging up the call. Tracey stood for a second.

"Well… I could've been of some assistance." He mumbled, somewhat disheartened that Gary didn't think to ask for his help.

* * *

Giovanni sat in his helicopter, petting his faithful Persian with a smirk on his face as the Rocket choppers drew ever nearer to the Orange Archipelago. Beside him sat Professor Ein, who was tapping away on a laptop. Behind them, banging around in his travel cage was XD 00P. Ein's laptop played footage of a large cannon firing, what looked like, some form of bright blue plasma energy at a dummy model of, what looked like, a Zapdos. The model was enveloped by the light, sealing it in an impenetrable force field of blue aura. Ein smirked a smug smile as he closed the laptop and watched out the viewing window of the chopper as the island of Shamouti slowly grew on the horizon.

"This weapon of yours had better get the job done, Ein." Giovanni said, glancing sideways at the young professor.

"Trust me, sir. Nothing can get in the way of my creation. With this fabled Ketchum out of your hair, I'd think it's safe to say you're worrying too much about something that's never gonna happen." Giovanni sat back in his chair, stroking his faithful Persian as he thought about all of Ash's friends he'd encountered.

"Never underestimate the brat, professor." He growled bitterly. "He has a legacy as well-known as ours." The chopper made its way to Shamouti without another word exchanged.

* * *

The landing gear touched down and out stepped Brock and Misty, both looking rather bemused at the sight of Sayda Island. The island looked to be nothing but jungle, minus the giant concrete research centre a few feet away from the landing strip which stood out like a sore thumb amidst the trees. Gary rushed out through the sliding glass doors and he hurried to the landing strip to greet Misty and Brock.

"So what's the big emergency you called us for?" Misty asked. Gary held a hand out to the side, pointing towards an Aerodactyl, which was being held in a cage. The large rock bird was screeching and roaring in what looked to be disdain, not at his confinement, but something completely unexplainable.

"All the Pokémon here on the island are going total psycho-crazy-bonkers." Gary told them. "Nothing they do looks natural anymore. They pick fights with anything that crosses their path, they don't eat what we normally feed them, and to top it off, they're trying to escape the island for no good reason whatsoever." Misty and brock exchanged a look of indifference.

"And you called us here… why?" Brock quizzed. This didn't seem like a major issue, it just might be some form of primeval migratory behaviour, or something. It hardly seemed like anything Gary wouldn't be able to handle on his own.

"No, you don't understand." Gary protested. "Come with me, I have something to show you."

The young researcher took the gym leaders into his research facility to, what looked like, a weather station. Computers beeped and whirred as data feeds recorded and rewrote themselves constantly. Gary led them to one computer in particular, which showed a line graph with multiple coloured lines measuring something called curies. "This computer is used to monitor background radiation from the local activity." Gary explained, sitting in the chair before the computer in question. "Like alpha radiation in granite caves, and such like." He tapped away at his keyboard, altering the graph by removing the lines colour by colour until there was only one left. It was a bright cyan line graph which showed a most peculiar regularity on the chart. There were only ever two traces of this reading every day, one at seven in the morning and another at seven in the evening, each only lasting for two minutes before disappearing as suddenly as they appeared. If Brock's eyes ever opened, they'd be as wide as two bulging Electrode stuck in his skull.

"Impossible." He hissed with disbelief, leaning forward to take a closer look at the screen.

"Exactly what I thought." Gary said as he scrolled through a week's worth of radiation spikes. Misty looked between the two of them, scowling with confusion.

"And, what's the English of your secret nerd talk about some form of radiation?"

"That's the thing, Mist." Gary said as he turned to face her in his chair, removing his reading glasses. "It's no radiation. It's aura."

* * *

The chopper touched down on Fire Island. Giovanni and Ein stepped out to see tens of dozens of grunts already present, assembling the cannon Ein was watching the test sessions of in the helicopter. Giovanni smirked as he watched Ein's creation take shape.

"So, Doctor Ein. How exactly does this machine work?" He asked. Ein simply chuckled with a smirk, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

"Well, simply put, it harnesses the raw potential energy from Ketchum's aura. Aura from one being can sometimes become entwined with that of another. This can be an acquaintance, a family member, or even a lifetime partner." The young professor explained. "And Ketchum's aura has made an almost unbreakable bond with XD 00P. Their auras are so in sync that they almost fit together perfectly like two halves of a pokéball. So, by mounting XD 00P into the fusion core of the aura cannon, we can harness the potential energy of its aura and combine it with Ketchum's. Then, a concentrated beam of aura can be used as a tractor beam, essentially suspending its target in animation by locking into its aura and taking over its body and will. If the legends are true and the, so-called, "Chosen One" is, indeed, able to subdue the legendary Pokémon, we'll have no problem corrupting them to do our bidding." Giovanni smirked evilly at this. He rubbed his hands together with anticipation.

"Excellent!" He exclaimed, loudly. "Then let's begin!" He crowed. Ein retrieved XD 00P from the copter and the two men walked towards the construction site of the aura cannon, preparing to set their plan in motion.

* * *

Misty tilted her head sideways at Gary's comment.

"What's aura?" She questioned.

"It's the living essence in all things." Brock told her, his slitted eyes stuck firm in the direction of the computer screen. "But not just living things like humans, Pokémon and plants. But _everything_. From the oceans to rocks to even the stars." He explained. "It's the living energy that keeps everything we know in this world in balance."

"Correct." Gary chipped in. "A few Pokémon are able to harness their aura in battle, like Lucario and Togekiss with Bone Rush and Aura Sphere. But, although it's very rare, it's not unheard of for a human to be able to tap into their aura in a similar way." He added.

"Ash was one such human." Brock finished their lecture. Misty's eyes widened like fish bowls at Brock's words.

"So… he could use his aura as an attack?" She asked.

"Kinda." Gary shrugged. "I remember him saying he was gonna train himself to use his aura effectively, but he had a very long way to go, even when he mastered most of his aura abilities." Brock looked at the spikes on the line graph.

"And you believe this aura is Ash's?" Brock asked the brunette scientist.

"I believe it may be something to do with him, yes." Gary concluded. Suddenly, the line graph started recording another spike, and an earthquake suddenly rumbled the entire island, setting off the lab's warning sirens as red lights flashed frantically and Brock, Misty and Gary rushed to the window to see a large blue glow emanating from a distant island. "That's Shamouti Island!" Gary exclaimed, alarming Brock and Misty.

* * *

Giovanni watched on as the mighty cannon was pieced together bit by bit while Ein scanned the island with his tablet for Fire Island's protector; Moltres. He approached the mouth of a cave in the side of the central volcano and his tablet whirred and clicked, confident that Moltres rested within. He smirked and set down the cage with XD 00P before looking the black mouse in the eye.

"Now, XD 00P." He barked authoritatively. "Your target is Moltres. Force it out of this cave, but do _not_ kill it. We need Moltres' powers for our plans to succeed." The electric rodent snarled at being told what to do, but made no effort to counter or disobey his master. Ein smirked and looked down at the now fully completed cannon. All the grunts were in position, and Giovanni was waiting for Ein to make his move. He nodded to the syndicate leader and opened the cage. Before the door was half open, XD 00P was out the cage and snarling his way down into the depths of the cave. Ein pressed his back against the rocky face of the volcano near the cave entrance. After a dozen seconds, there was a pained and enraged screeching sound as a large fiery Pokémon fled from the cave, taking to the skies with a shriek. Attached to its back was a little black rodent, who was clawing violently at the bird's feathers, ripping them out of the great bird's skin by the quills. Ein rushed down to the volcanic beach and stood by the aura cannon, watching as XD 00P viciously assaulted the legendary bird as it swooped and swerved in the skies, desperately trying to shake the rodent off. But the electric mouse was persistent, and relentless. The more Moltres resisted, the harder he clawed at its flesh.

"XD 00P! Force it to land!" Ein ordered from his position by the cannon. The rodent dug his fangs deep into Moltres' flesh, unleashing a powerful Thunderfang attack into the bird's spine, causing the creature's muscles to spasm and shudder in agony. The mighty phoenix gave an agonised screech as it quickly lost control of its muscles and crashed to the ground with a terrible thump, kicking up a dust cloud that covered the trees with soot and ashes. XD 00P ran towards Ein for his following commands. "Now, XD 00P. Activate the aura cannon." The professor ordered. The rodent obediently scaled the giant mechanical monstrosity, climbing into a small glass chamber. The mouse's eyes glared brilliantly bright red, and the chamber which held him began to fill with a black, ominous aura. The dark energy fizzed and crackled through the machine, and the metal chamber at the back of the cannon began to glow with a brilliantly bright blue aura, mixing the two auras together before sending a large beam of pure blue energy towards the stricken fire bird Pokémon. The energy beam struck its target directly, enshrouding the fire bird with its brilliant blue radiance. The phoenix gave a screech of defiance, as it struggled to hold onto its will as it became engulfed by the aura, which was probing its mind and filling its head with thoughts that weren't its own. The Pokémon squawked and shrieked for help, but its cry went unheard until they died out all together as the phoenix eventually lost its will to call for help and gave in to the will of the aura attack as it swallowed its mind and took control of its body.

Giovanni and Ein smirked as they watched the fire bird of legend succumb to the will of their weapon and rise to its feet. As it opened its eyes, it gave a shrill squawk which echoed like a terrible battle cry as its wings blazed with a fiery inferno. As the phoenix tucked its wings away, it looked down towards its new master. Its eyes were now hollow and as black as a starless sky, not a glimmer of life to be seen within its dead orbs. Giovanni smirked evilly and chuckled darkly under his breath. Ein sneered triumphantly as the mind broken bird stood obediently to attention, awaiting orders from its new masters.

"Impressive, Ein." Giovanni commended the scientist. "I must say, your device works better than I had anticipated." Ein smirked as he looked at the possessed Pokémon that stood before him. This would be the start of his greatest Shadow Pokémon ventures of all time.

"I would've never expected less." He stated, coolly. He stepped forward and held his arms out wide in a commanding pose before the brainwashed Moltres. "Moltres! Obey me! Draw Zapdos and Articuno to Fire Island, and bring forth the Beast of the Sea; Lugia!" He demanded of his slave. Moltres gave a shriek and took to the skies. The giant fire bird began to glow red as its blazing feathers grew hotter and hotter until the beast unleashed an enormous Heatwave attack so large that the heat front threatened to burn anything in its path to ashes. The heat front erupted quickly, reaching Ice Island and Lightning Island almost impossibly fast, singeing anything unlucky enough to be hit by the heat. Trees, rocks and sand were all blasted with the heat of Moltres' attack, damaging them in an instant. The heat blast was so devastating, it disturbed the rest of Zapdos and Articuno. The two legendary birds emerged from their caves on their respective islands and screeched in displeasure at having their slumber interrupted. The birds flapped their wings with rage as they took to the skies and headed towards Fire Island.

Giovanni and Ein watched the skies with smirks upon their faces as Zapdos and Articuno approached, flying directly into their trap as Moltres watched them draw closer and closer to its island. Ein smirked as the birds squawked with rage as they focused their attention on Moltres, completely oblivious to the true threat. The birds collided in mid-air, with Zapdos and Articuno clawing at Moltres with their talons. The fire bird did nothing as it received each attack without batting an eyelid, as if the sharp claws tearing at its flesh were nothing more than toddlers' hands lightly patting its feathers. Giovanni smirked as Moltres took the punishment from its aggressors without so much as blinking. Unknown to him or Ein, a Gyarados and Aerodactyl came to shore behind them.

"So YOU'RE the ones responsible for those aura spikes!" Gary shouted, drawing the attention of all the Rockets on the island. Ein smirked and turned to address the new arrivals as Gary, Brock and Misty dismounted their Pokémon.

"And who might you three be?" He asked. Giovanni glowered at the unwelcome arrivals.

"They're acquaintances of the Ketchum brat, and are almost as a big a pain in ass as he was." He growled as he glared at the young trio.

"Ah." Ein mused, and stepped forward, looking at the trio with interest. But his eyes seemed to flit over to Misty the most. "So you are the infamous legacy of Ketchum that I've heard about." He said, smirking at them. Misty growled, wanting to punch this smug creep in the nose. "Well, please do pardon my manners. My name is Ein. And I have somewhat of a legacy of my own." He introduced himself smugly. "Behold!" He turned to present the aura cannon with pride. "My Shadow Pokémon project!" As if on cue, the aura cannon powered up again, mixing black shadow aura with the pure blue aura of the fallen champion and blasting a concentrated beam of aura directly between Zapdos and Articuno, ensnaring them both within the painful clutches of the aura's mind melting power. Gary, brock and Misty could only watch in horror as the thunder and ice birds struggled to hold their minds to their own. Misty looked at the cannon, and then to Ein. She snarled at the man with fire in her heart. The young scientist blanked her, staring smugly at the trapped birds as their minds were raided by the Chosen One's aura and their thoughts were replaced with new, evil ideals.

"What is that thing?" She demanded to know.

"This…" Ein started as he indicated to his creation. "…is my most ingenious creation to date. The aura cannon. Harnessing the power of the Chosen One, I can corrupt the thoughts of any living thing, be it human or Pokémon, and claim their mind for the work of Team Rocket. For years, I have seen Pokémon as weak and incomplete. They only fight until their opponent is weakened and no longer has the strength to continue their fight. Why stop at that and risk the chance of your fallen opponent returning to finish the job they started? My Shadow Pokémon project removes the inhibitions of a Pokémon's mind by forcefully closing the door to their heart, sealing what pathetic memories of happiness and compassion they have, and replacing them with hatred and violence. My Shadow Pokémon will stop at nothing until anything that opposes them is dead. This is the way that nature intended them to live. This is the way all Pokémon were taught by humans to ignore. Kill. Or be killed. That is all a Shadow Pokémon knows." Ein sneered as Zapdos and Articuno finally lost their battle to keep their wits and dropped from the sky with a terrible thump. As everyone present watched on, the two birds rose to their feet and opened their eyes to reveal them to be black as tar. Their hollow eyes looked down to Giovanni and Ein like obedient drones as Gary, Brock and Misty looked on in horror. "Without the reluctance to kill, my Shadow Pokémon will make Team Rocket the most powerful force in the world, and soon, the rulers of it!" Ein crowed in victory. The three legendary birds cawed with shrill voices, causing Gary, brock and Misty to shield their ears from the din. Ein turned to Giovanni and nodded to him, indicating silently that he now had full control of the three legendary birds, and the fate of the three interlopers was at his discretion. Giovanni smirked as he turned to the three legendary birds, holding his arms wide.

"Moltres, Zapdos and Articuno! Obey my commands! Kill these meddlesome fools!" he demanded. The birds squawked and lifted themselves from the ground in a single wing beat. They hovered over the three young intruders with murderous looks in their hollow eyes. All at once, they fired fire, ice and lightning at their foes, with no regard to whether they were a threat or not at all. It was clear these attacks were to kill.

Suddenly, the sea water behind Gary, Brock and Misty erupted as Lugia leapt from the ocean and intercepted the three birds' attacks with a powerful Psybeam. Ein smirked happily at the sight of the giant bird.

"Hello again." He sneered, earning himself a nasty growl from the giant sea bird. An orange energy gathered in Lugia's jaws as it charged up for a devastating Hyper Beam. Before it could launch its attack, however, Moltres, Zapdos and Articuno blasted it with their fire, ice and lightning beams, knocking the wind out of the legendary Pokémon and sending it careering out of control as it unleashed its power trying, in vain, to stabilise its flight. Lugia's Hyper beam struck the ground right in front of Gary, Brock and Misty, sending them flying across the ocean and off into the distance. Ein watched with a smirk as Lugia dropped out of the sky like a stone. He walked towards the fallen bird. "Now, Lugia." He sneered. "My Shadow Pokémon project is perfected. And this time… you shall not be alone in this project." He grinned maliciously as XD 00P once more powered up the aura cannon and blasted one last aura beam at Lugia's head.

* * *

**So. Moltres, Zapdos, Articuno and Lugia are the first four legendary Pokémon to be corrupted by Doctor Ein's aura cannon. This can only spell trouble, as Team Rocket are finally moving forward with one of their schemes, and there appears to be nothing and nobody who can stand in their way this time. What will happen next? Will Team Rocket succeed in corrupting all of the legendary Pokémon? Stay tuned to find out.**


	7. Tree of Devastation

**Hello readers. Salvador Rider back again, with a new chapter. In this chapter, I'll be wrapping up the Kanto captures, ready to move on to Johto. If anyone thinks I may take too much time with the corruption of the legendary Pokémon, please tell me, and maybe give me some suggestions on how to speed up the process. But, spoiler alert, I have one or two plans for two special legendaries, so there's a reason I'm taking my time with these capture scenes. Ky111 and partner555, I share your fears about certain Pok****émon getting corrupted by Ein's maniacal sludge, and yes Ky111, the Elite Four's around the world will, very soon, be prioritising these Rocket atrocities very highly.** Now, on with the chapter.

* * *

Gary dragged Brock's unconscious body up the sand as Misty caught her breath as she laid sprawled out on the sands of… wherever they were. Lugia's desperate Hyper Beam attack had catapulted her and the boys miles out into the ocean, slap bang in the middle of nowhere. With a lot of teamwork and an insane amount of luck, the trio managed to run aground on another island, albeit that Brock was now passed out from his lack of swimming ability and Misty and Gary were knackered after hours of swimming. They stayed sprawled out on the sand taking deep breaths to steady themselves until a tall woman with red hair came up to them, looking over them with a look of concern upon her face.

"Are you OK there, kids?" She asked kindly. Misty slowly opened her eyes and gasped at the sight of the woman.

"Luana?" The woman looked into her eyes for a second before gasping, herself.

"Misty? Is that you?" Misty nodded with a limp smile. "Oh my dear thing, we need to get you and your friends back to the hotel." Luana fussed as she pulled out a pokéball and released her Alakazam. "Alakazam, get these three to the hotel and have Nurse Joy look them over." She requested. Alakazam nodded and lifted the three waterlogged trainers using his psychic powers before carrying them to Luana's hotel.

* * *

The laboratories echoed with squawks and wails of agonised anguish as Ein stood behind the bulletproof glass, smirking as he watched the three legendary birds writhe and flap in agony unimaginable, trying to escape from the torture they were under. Each bird had a tube feeding the black sludge of corruption into their heads and hearts, and it was obviously painful because they were screeching and struggling like a toddler trying to escape from the nurse's needle. Ein turned to Lugia, who was being held by multiple steel restraints which held its wings still with a crushing grip. The heartless researcher grinned sadistically at the sea beast's plight. This time, Lugia wasn't getting away.

"So nice to see you again… XD 001." Ein crowed maliciously, addressing Lugia by its most hated nickname. "You were lucky that little brat saved you back in the Orre region. Had my idiotic sister not been so hasty in her experimentation, you would've been the crowning glory in my Shadow Pokémon conversion." He snarled. A few years back, his little sister; Lovrina, tried to revive Ein's work, while he was searching for a way to perfect his practices. One night, she snuck into his lab and stole a phial of Shadow serum, and a Snag ball which contained Lugia. Without her brother's permission, or knowledge, she infected the Pokémon with the sludge. For the most part, it looked like subject XD 001 was set out to be a strong success. Lugia's body was completely overrun by the alien compound, turning its white downy coat to the darkest violet. Silver eye-mask like growths formed around the sea bird's eyes from the corruption and two small spikes grew on the tip of its tail. It was the first recorded specimen of a Shadow Pokémon whose appearance had been visibly changed from the shadow corruption. But a young boy named Michael brought down Cipher's Shadow Pokémon plot for the second time in Orre, the first attempt being thwarted by ex-Snagem member Seth and his pretty-girl Rui. "But now, my Shadow Pokémon research is finally perfected. You could see the power it gave to your replacement; XD 00P." Ein sneered as he turned to look at the rabid Pikachu, who was savagely mauling a chunk of meat from his latest victim's leg, swallowing the meat with feral greed. "And soon, that same power will course through your veins as well. And this time, there will be no going back to your weak, pathetic, incomplete form ever again." The young doctor crowed triumphantly as the four legendary birds screamed in agony, their wills and bodies melting and corrupting from the evil sludge that was blackening their hearts.

* * *

"Wow. That must've been one heck of a Hyper Beam to throw the three of you all the way from Shamouti to here." Luana said. Misty had just filled her in on the events on Fire Island after she and the boys had received some much needed first aid.

"It _was_ Lugia, remember." Misty said as she sipped at her cup of tea. "And now, only Arceus knows what Team Rocket are going to do to those poor birds."

"Let's just hope that Arceus _remains_ the only one to know." A new, masculine, voice pitched in. The women turned around to see a rather grumpy looking Lance stood in the doorway. He has his arms crossed in front of his chest and his cape was hanging loosely from his back.

"Lance!" Misty exclaimed. "What brings you out here?"

"I've been having the Elite Four Council jumping on my back for weeks, asking me where our Champion is. Then I hear from my gym leaders that he's been murdered by a, supposedly, disbanded criminal organisation. And to top it all off, I get word of a fight in the Orange Islands and find two of my gym leaders and Professor Oak's son to be at the heart of it." Lance complained. "And now I overhear you say that Team Rocket have stolen the four legendary birds of Shamouti Island. Why do you think I'm here?" Misty swallowed nervously. Lance wasn't a violent or hot-headed man, but if he'd had a bad day, he was bound to be grumpy. Lance was just about the only member of the Kanto league Misty was careful about addressing.

"I'm sorry, Lane, but it's been a rough and busy month for all concerned." She apologised.

"And you think _I've_ had it any easier‽" The Dragon Champion stormed. "I've had to file paper after paper after paper to keep the media quiet. The Elite Four Council are paying through the nose to prevent any information about Ketchum, Team Rocket and the legendary birds from reaching public domain. If anyone were to hear that Team Rocket are back in the saddle, there'd be chaos across the world. Now, if you have any information on Team Rocket, Waterflower, I suggest you tell me all of it right now."

* * *

Giovanni stepped out of the lift and into the labs. He was greeted by Ein and taken down the usual corridor to see his latest achievement.

"I trust your operations went well, Ein." Giovanni stated, in his usual blunt tone. "I've not long received word from some troops in the northern mountain range beyond Pewter City. We'll be requiring Moltres, Zapdos and Articuno for transportation."

"The operation, as I'm sure you'd expect, was flawless." Ein smirked. "All four of the legendary birds have fully succumbed to the serum. All feeling of joy or compassion is a thing of the past. Now…" He introduced the Rocket boss to the four legendary birds as they entered the viewing chamber. "…there is only hatred in their hearts." Giovanni looked up at the four birds in astonishment as the creatures stood on their perches. Articuno's feathered crest on top of its head had become more ruffled, with a large forward facing crest of feathers that swooped over the crown of its head like a horn. Its once turquoise coat was now a dark navy blue, with blackened tips on its tail, wings and crest. Zapdos' yellow plumage was now matt black and crackling with purple streaks of static electricity. Its beak was now hooked and purple and its talons ended with claws the size of a man's forearm. Moltres' body was now engulfed by a black and purple inferno, the flames of which burned with more ferocity than its pure hearted form. The bird's beak was now sharper, and shone like onyx in the little lighting that illuminated its form. Finally, Giovanni's eyes fell upon Lugia. Unable to control his jaw, his entire mouth opened wide of its own accord, his limp jaw almost pulling his head to the floor as it hang loosely like a broken hinge on his face. Ein smirked as he spotted this reaction from the proud man. "XD 001 mark two." He said, simply. The two men looked at the creature in silence; Giovanni stunned like a Deerling in headlights and Ein in smug contentment at his finest work to date.

* * *

Lance paced back and forth in the hotel room, swearing and snarling into his Pokégear as he argued with the council. Misty watched him pace like a lunatic, hoping for the sake of their wallets he didn't end up wearing a groove in the floorboards.

"Yes, I understand the fucking expenses and I fully respect the risks!" He shouting into the speaker, deafeningly. "But we cannot allow Team Rocket to mobilise whatever scheme they're hatching. Whatever it is, this time, it's huge. They've proven this already by killing our Champion. Not just that, but the World Master. _And_, if that weren't a big enough sign to say "This is our biggest plan ever", they've already secured four legendary Pokémon in the space of less than half an hour. What more possible evidence do we need to send out half a dozen G-Men to try an sniff out Team Rocket's base of operations and put an end to this thing before it can grow any bigger‽" He demanded. It was clear his answer wasn't the one he wanted, as he almost threw his Pokégear into the fish tank in blind rage. "With all due respect, Mr Goodshow, I think you need to get a prescription for some better common sense pills, we cannot let Team Rocket re-establish-" An unbearably long and pregnant pause ensued as Lance stood and listened to a, presumably not very nicely worded and lengthy, denial of permission from his boss, Charles Goodshow. He huffed grumpily, pinching the bridge of his nose so hard, it was amazing how he didn't break his own nose. "I understand. Sir." He snarled viciously before hanging he Pokégear and flicking the V's at the device, muttering dirty words through gritted teeth. He then turned his attention to Misty, Brock and Gary. "Well, no thanks to you three, Team Rocket have somehow managed to capture four legendary Pokémon for Arceus knows what evil intents and purposes, and my own council won't back me in trying to nip this thing in the bud because they don't believe there's enough evidence to back the, so called, "theory" that Team Rocket is making a comeback at all!"

"That hardly makes it our fault though, does it?" Gary bit back, standing from his seat on the couch. Lance turned to face him and stored up to him until their noses all but touched.

"You three were the clowns who got caught up in all this mess. You're the reason I've been signing cheques to the world's media. _You're_ the ones-" His voice got more and more agitated until he was cut off by Luana.

"Who are aiming for the same goals as you." She said, only raising her voice for attention over Lance's moody screams. "They want to avenge Ash's death and take down Team Rocket once and for all as well, you know." She said with a smile. Lance huffed.

"If they want to avenge Ketchum, they need to cut out the heroics. That's what Ketchum would've done." He sighed. Misty's fists clenched. She didn't like hearing Lance talk about Ash that way. It was true that Ash always played the hero in times like this, but that was never truly a bad thing. Somehow, by some twist of luck or some miraculously acquired skill, Ash always saved the day and restored peace for another day or two in times of crisis. Before she could raise her voice to protest, however, Lance's Pokégear began to ring. The Champion picked up the receiver. "Speak to me." He demanded. His face slowly twisted into one of despair as he listened to his caller. "I'm on my way." He said, hanging up his Pokégear. "Team Rocket's mobile. They're heading to Pewter City." He said, turning to the door.

* * *

"Pewter City?" Brock exclaimed. "Why?"

"We'll have to find out." Misty said as she followed Lance out the door.

Ein tapped away on his laptop has the chopper followed the black shadow over the grey skyline of Pewter City toward the mountain ranges beyond Mount Moon.

"Fascinating." He mused, earning a stern look from Giovanni. "According to local folklore and scientific research, the Tree of Beginning, which stands on the outskirts of Rota, is a crystalline rock formation that acts like a living organism, complete with photosynthesising crystals and its own antibody defence system."

"How can a rock be alive?" Giovanni scoffed sceptically.

"The town of Rota is said to be rich in aura. Perhaps we could use this to our advantage." Ein continued to muse as the copter neared its destination.

Half an hour later, the chopper touched down on the hard soil near the giant rocky tree. Ein was the first to clamber out the aircraft to get a proper look at the tree in question. It was quite a sight to see. The tree stood around a mile or two high, and from the very look of it, it was obvious that the formation was, indeed, made of rock and not remotely a part of it was made of wood at all. Rings of green crystalline materials extended out from the immense stone trunk of the formation, forming the shape of a deciduous Christmas tree. Giovanni climbed out the copter soon after as the black shadow they'd been tailing slowly lowered its cargo; the aura cannon. The two men looked up at the creature with scheming sneers.

"I must say, I'm impressed with your experiments." Giovanni complimented.

"Please." Ein scoffed, smugly. "The experimentation phase was completed more than five years ago. Now, I'm merely performing some much needed evolutionary surgery on nature."

"Well whatever you call it, it's showing a great deal of promise." The dark haired man smirked evilly. Ein turned to the chopper and whistled. XD 00P leapt from the copter and bristled his fur, eager for blood.

"XD 00P, I have a job for you." Ein demanded. "Climb on XD 001.2's back. And once it's over the Tree of Beginning, I want you to obliterate it. Leave no crystal intact." XD 00P nodded and climbed onto the other shadow beast's back. The bird, of course, was Lugia, who looked much more corrupted than the last time it was poisoned by Ein's evil serum. Instead of the previous deep purple with silver outgrowths around its eyes, the sea bird's glassy down was now pitch black, blacker than a starless sky. And instead of outgrowths restricted to the eyes of the beast, an entire helmet shape surrounded the creature's head, with thorny horn like growths protruding from the crown of the Pokémon's head. The blades on its back were now curved and sharp like samurai blades sticking out of its spine. From the base of its tail grew two chunky spikes that spiralled around the tail in a perfect double helix before flaring out at the tip of the tail like a spiked whip. The monstrosity's eyes were blazing red orbs which seemed utterly devoid of any and all signs of life. XD 001.2 screeched maliciously and took to the skies with a single wing beat. The shadow bird ascended to the skies and began circling around the giant crystalline tree. XD 00P stood on top of his mount's helmeted head and blasted at the viridian crystals with thousands of streaks of black lightning. As the electric beams struck the refracting rock, the incredible sound of earth-shaking creaks and cracks as the rocks were subjected to such a sheer intensity of heat the formation crumbled like pastry, ripping sections of crystal away in chunks the size of Rhyhorn.

The crumbled debris toppled from the tree, crashing to the dirt below with tremulous force. An unearthly roaring noise could be heard, as if some wild animal were in mortal distress and roaring in panicked agony. As if in response, the ground beneath the chopper erupted, and out arose the three legendary Golem Pokémon; Regirock, Regice and Registeel. Ein smirked as the three elemental colossi gurgled with metallic snarls at the aggressors of their home.

"XD 00P. We have company." The young scientist crowed. The black mouse snarled viciously and leapt from his mount, landing between his masters and the golem defenders. Regirock was the first to make a move. It placed its rocky hands close together, forming a giant boulder in between his hands. He raised the rock over his head and hurled it at XD 00P with a roar. The mouse ran towards the falling boulder, unperturbed by his immense size disadvantage to the rock. He leapt towards the projectile, and landed a simple headbutt squarely on the face of the boulder, cracking it in half without difficulty. The golems were taken aback by the mouse's strength, but Regice quickly recovered from the shock and blasted the rodent with a chilling Ice Beam attack. The little mouse was quickly engulfed in a block of ice which froze him in place in an instant. The golems slowly advanced on the frozen mouse, certain that he was incapable of defending himself in his ice prison. To their horror, however, the rodent broke free of the ice trap that held him as if he were only tied down with sewing thread. The mouse roared his displeasure at being put on ice and leapt onto Registeel's face. The metal golem staggered and flailed its arms, trying to swat the rodent from its face as the mouse crackled with black lightning. The rodent yelled in aggression and unleashed his deadly charge into the golem's metal body, causing it to spasm and convulse violently. XD 00P then jumped from the weakened steel creature and clawed onto Regirock's back. The stone golem flailed wildly, attempting to bat the aggressive mouse away. As the rock defender turned his back on Regice, the iceberg Pokémon charged and fired an Ice Beam, intended for the mouse. However, 00P was too quick and bolted before the frozen beam smacked Regirock in the back, freezing the titan in place like an icy statue. The mouse snarled with a cocky smirk and charged towards the ice pillar golem, tail shining like blackened titanium, and landed a powerful Iron Tail attack into the golem's icy head, sending it flying into his paralyzed metal companion, knocking them both to the floor.

Ein smirked, and clapped in approval of his creation's swift work on three golem legendries.

"Very well done, XD 00P." He commended the rodent, who huffed and smoothed out his bristled fur. Suddenly, a large gust of wind blew around, causing all present to adjust their footing to stay stable. They turned to find two Dragonite standing before them, with four young adults climbing down from their backs.

"Team Rocket, you're under arrest by order of the Indigo Plateau for the abduction and murder of the World Pokémon Master, Ashton Shadow Ketchum, disruption of the peace in the Orange Islands and for the vandalism of the Tree of Beginning!" Lance commanded as he stepped forward to confront the syndicate. Ein simply smirked, flicking a loose strand of hair nonchalantly with a dark chuckle.

"Well now. Am I to assume I'm addressing Dragon Master Lance? Reigning League Champion of the Kanto and Johto regions?" He asked, formally.

"The very same." Lance announced. "And you would be wise to come peacefully." The young scientist seemed to find this amusing.

"You're quite right, Champion." He said, coolly, earning himself confused looks from Lance, Brock, Misty and Gary, as well as a threatening glare from Giovanni. "A man in his right mind would, indeed, give himself up without resistance." He smirked manically as he glanced over his shades at the young Champion. "Too bad I'm not in my right mind. XD 001.2! Destroy these fools!" He commanded. The Shadow Lugia screeched and blasted the ground before the young trainers with a beam of black light, throwing them into the dirt. The mighty bird landed on the ground before them and snarled viciously. Misty grimaced at the sight of it. The creature looked horribly disfigured and looked as if it had had its soul completely stolen away from it.

"Wha… what happened to it?" She asked.

"I've heard about this once before." Lance said. "An evil crime syndicate called Cipher corrupted a Lugia for their plans of world domination."

"Yes. But the specimen was incomplete." Ein chipped in. "My idiot sister was too impatient. She wanted to create the world's most powerful shadow Pokémon. But the serum wasn't finished. It almost broke free. And then, some petty little brat restored it, along with all the other Shadow Pokémon that Cipher had created. But now, I have finally perfected the formula for the ultimate Shadow Pokémon!" he cawed, victoriously. "At last, Pokémon will be reverted back to their primal ages. When humans had no influence on their diets and behaviours. Where the only law is kill, or be killed. That is the natural law of Pokémon!" XD 001.2 roared and fired another black beam at the young trainers, who scattered to narrowly miss the attack.

Lance growled as turned to the others.

"We have no other options." He said. "We must fight." The other trainers nodded and released their Pokémon. Gary called out his Arcanine. Brock summoned his Steelix. And Misty released her Gyarados. All the Pokémon were heavily dwarfed by the disfigured shadow, but none of them allowed themselves to show fear. Ein smirked at their determination.

"You honestly believe my Shadow Pokémon can be defeated by those puny creatures?" He crowed. "The very idea is laughable." He cackled maniacally and turned to leave his Shadow Lugia to destroy the resisting trainers. "Now, 00P, let's power up the aura cannon." XD 00P nodded and manned his station in the aura cannon. The device whirred into life and started to corrupt the golems' brains with its black aura.

"We can't allow that thing to affect those Pokémon." Lance shouted, as one of his Dragonite was sent flying past his head with a single swipe from Lugia's tail. "You guys try to distract this Lugia, I'll take care of the cannon." Everyone nodded and Lance ducked and dived between attacks and tails and fangs and claws to reach the aura cannon that was corrupting the legendary golems. As he neared tackling distance, however, he felt something slam him in the side, and landed on the ground with a thump. He looked up to find Giovanni's Persian snarling at him, pinning him down with its large paws.

"I'm afraid we can't allow you to do that, Chump-ion." Giovanni sneered, evilly. The three golems rose to their feet, the dots on their faces now black like burnt Christmas lights. Giovanni smirked as he watched the golems roar with dark voices as the evil in their hearts took over. "And now, we have one last target." He sneered as a small pink body flew as fast as it could from the wreckage of the Tee of Beginning. "Don't let it escape." He demanded. The golems fired at the little pink creature with a barrage of black Hype Beams, each one meeting their mark.

"Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewww!" The tiny Pokémon screamed as it fell to the ground, smoking and bleeding as she fell.

The sound of the explosions, followed by the tiny scream, drew the attention of Brock, Gary and Misty. They gasped in horror as a tiny body plummeted to the ground, hitting the rocky floor with a thump. XD 001.2 swept them and their Pokémon with a single swipe of its tail and retreated to its masters. Ein smirked as he retrieved the bloodied Pokémon of Mew who was, still conscious but, breathing raggedly with bruises all over her tiny form. The aura cannon geared up once more and blasted the tiny catlike creature with its corrupting influence. The small Pokémon winced, and thrashed futilely to resist the influence of the evil device. But, in her current condition, she was in no position to fight, so she quickly succumbed to the will of the black aura. Giovanni smirked and looked at the young trainers, who were all horrified at what they'd just witnessed.

"Our mission is complete." He announced with a smirk. "Ein. Return everything to our headquarters." Ein nodded and started to pack up their new spoils. Giovanni turned to the restrained Dragon Master. "And as for you." The man sneered, demonically. "I feel it's only fitting we demonstrate our newfound power with your precious World Pokémon Master's prized Pokémon." He snapped his fingers, sneering victoriously. XD 00P leapt out of his chamber in the aura cannon and stalked up to the pinned Champion with a murderous glare in his red eyes. Misty, Brock and Gary watched on in horror as the small rodent viciously ripped into Lance's legs, ripping his kneecaps out and ripping flesh from bone without hesitation. Lance screamed in agony, thrashing desperately to end the torture as his voice became blood curdling. Giovanni snapped his fingers again, and 00P retreated back to the copter. Giovanni and his Persian seated themselves in the chopper and bid the trainers farewell as the vessel departed, with its four new passengers and XD 001.2 carrying the aura cannon behind. Gary, Brock and Misty rushed over to Lance as Brock went into full doctor mode and started to work on stemming Lance's bleeding.

* * *

**So, the Tree of Beginning is now little more than a pile of crystalline rubble, and the three golems and Mew are now going to be shadowed. How do you think Gary, Brock and Misty feel now that they know that their best friend's favourite Pok****émon is now a corrupted killer?** If you want to know Lance's fate, he's going to live. But he'll be a little hampered by today's events. Next time, we'll meet Dawn and Zoey as they visit a friend of Ash's on a remote island between Johto and Hoenn to try and console a grieving admirer. Until then, stay safe, everybody.


End file.
